ALLENTOWN, Pa. — City police are investigating a fatal high-speed vehicle crash that was so violent, passersby said they thought a small plane had crashed instead.
Abeil Adilow, 27, of Philadelphia, was pronounced dead at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office said in a release. The cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries due to motor vehicle collision.
Adilow was killed when his vehicle left the road traveling northbound in the 1900 block of Lehigh Street and hit several parked cars at 1:06 a.m. Tuesday, city police said in a release.
Those vehicles were parked at the Bennett Infiniti dealership of Allentown, which had debris strewn about the property in the aftermath.
“I thought there was a plane crash,” said Dan Remmel of Allentown as he observed the wreckage about 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Remmel said that about 7:30 a.m., he asked employees at the neighboring Wawa convenience store what had happened.
“The police came in on it, they said no one even called it in,” Remmel said.
He described the wrecked vehicle as if it had been through a "crusher" — an industrial device used to crush depreciated cars prior to transport for recycling.
“That’s why he thought it was a plane,” Remmel’s wife said, referencing the violence of the crash and the debris scattered about.
A tent on the property was heavily damaged and dirt was strewn on the rooftops of parked cars. Lights also were damaged and a large gash was evident in the grass surrounded by police tape.
The Allentown Police Traffic Safety Unit and the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office are investigating.
Any information or tips on the crash can be made anonymously at https://www.tip411.com/agencies/allentown-police-department/groups/3839
