Funeral Set For Pennsylvania Teen Police Say Was Texting
BUTLER, Pa. (AP) -- A funeral is set for a western Pennsylvania teen who police say crashed into a tree while text-messaging hours after the state Senate approved a ban on the practice.
Some family and friends of 17-year-old Alexis Summers, of Saxonburg, don't believe she was texting, saying she was a responsible "guardian angel" who often lectured her friends about the dangerous practice.
State police say her phone indicated she was responding to a text when she crashed shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday in Jefferson Township, Butler County.
Her funeral was set for Friday morning.
Classmate Mallory Bateman says she included Summers in a text message about cheerleading practice about 10 minutes before the crash, but says it didn't require a response.
Bateman says people are trying to make Summers the "poster child" for texting while driving but says, "She's not."
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
