Palmer Township Resident Involved in Fatal Crash

Richard Street, 71, of Palmer Township was driving west on Newburg Road in Upper Nazareth yesterday when a student van crossed the center line and hit his RV, according to police.

The driver of the van, Kelly Quier, 42, of Walnutport was pronounced dead at the scene by Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek. Street and a student who was in the van were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, Fountain Hill.

Street remained hospitalized at St. Luke's as of 12:27 p.m. today, but no information on his condition was available. The extent of the student's injuries and whether he or she remained hospitalized is also unknown.

In a statement to Patch, First Student Inc. confirmed that a company van was involved in the .

“Sadly, our driver has passed away and our hearts go out to the driver’s family and friends at this difficult time,” said Timothy Stokes, a spokesman for First Student.

According to Stokes, Quier was a driver for First Student since November 2004 and “was a well-respected member of our team.”

Records show Quier had no major driving violations prior to Tuesday’s crash, which occurred at about 3:30 p.m. Stokes added that Quier was not involved in any accidents while she was a driver for First Student. 

"It's pretty clear the van crossed the center line, but the why, we may never know," said Alan Siegfried, chief of . "It may turn out that a medical event happened with the driver [of the First Student van], but we just don’t know at this point. The why -- we may or may never know."

A reconstruction of the scene was planned for this morning but has been pushed back to Thursday morning, Siegfried said.

He said an additional member of the state police at Belfast accident reconstruction team was needed to assist in the scene reconstruction but was not available the morning after Tuesday's crash.

Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek is expected to release more information on the cause and manner of Quier's death later today.

One student, who attends school in the Northampton Area School District, was being transported at the time of the crash. Siegfried declined to give any additional details on the student.