Greene County woman dies in Morris crash
Tanya Phillips in a 2013 Miss Rain Day photo
The intersection of Plumsock and Conger roads in Morris Township
The West Greene community is mourning the loss of recent graduate Tanya Phillips, who died in a Wednesday night crash in Morris Township, Washington County.
“The thing that stands out the most about her is that she was incredibly kind-hearted,” said Melissa Ullom, a West Greene High School English teacher who had Phillips as a student for three consecutive years. “She always went out of her way to help others when she saw a need.”
Phillips, 20, of New Freeport, was a front seat passenger in a sedan that was heading north in the 400 block of Plum Sock Road near Conger Road about 11 p.m., when the driver crossed into the southbound lane and struck a pickup truck.
Morris fire Chief Dave Dietrich said the car came out of a curve into a straightaway and spun into the path of the oncoming pickup truck. The truck collided with the passenger side of the car where Phillips was sitting. Dietrich said that Phillips was the only one in the car wearing a seat belt. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dietrich said firefighters from Morris, Amwell Township and Lone Pine spent about 20 minutes extricating the two other victims from the car. Police said the driver of the car in which Phillips was riding, Frank Finnegan Jr., 22, of Graysville, was in the intensive care unit at UPMC-Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh. A 14-year-old boy who was a back seat passenger in Finnegan’s car, is in Children’s Hospital.
The driver of the pickup truck, Michael F. Leathers, 61, of Jefferson, Greene County, was taken to Washington Hospital for treatment of lower-body injuries.
South Franklin Township firefighters set up a landing zone near the crash scene for two emergency helicopters. Fire crews were on the scene until about 4:30 a.m.
Ullom called Phillips’ death a “shock” and “great loss.”
“She was the kind of kid you wanted on your team because she was always giving it her best effort,” she said.
Phillips was in the marching band and on the cheerleading squad while in high school, according to West Greene Principal Scott Sakai.
“Coming from a district standpoint, we care about our kids and when something like this happens, it really hits home for a lot of people,” he said.
Sakai said Phillips, a 2014 graduate, was a “kind” and “hardworking student.”
“Once they’re one of our students, they’re always one of our students, so it’s always sad when something like this – especially this tragic – happens,” he said. “She’ll be missed and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.”
Phillips was a two-time Miss Rain Day contestant, in 2012 and 2013, and a contestant for the Jacktown Fair Queen in 2013.
Jeanine Henry, a member of the Rain Day Committee that organizes the Miss Rain Day pageant, said Phillips was a “very good dancer” who often worked in a local dance studio.
“She was a bright young woman with inspiring goals,” Henry said. “She got along with everyone. The organization feels badly for her family and she will be missed.”
Phillips also volunteered her time at the New Freeport Volunteer Fire Department as a junior firefighter. Fire Chief Alan Shipman said Phillips was a member of the women’s auxiliary as well. He said her parents, Terry and Ethel Phillips, were firefighters years ago, so Phillips “was always around it.”
“She’d go on calls with us,” he said. “Anytime she was available she was around. That family’s always been there when someone needed anything.”
Shipman said Phillips’ older sister, Juanita Phillips died from an illness in 2015, leaving behind a daughter whom Tanya Phillips often cared for. He said Tanya Phillips also cared for her parents who “have been in bad health” recently.
“She was a good person,” Shipman said.
The cause and manner of Phillips’ death is pending an autopsy. She was the fifth person to die on Washington County roads this year.
A state police accident reconstruction specialist is assisting state police with the crash investigation. Police said alcohol was involved, although no charges had been filed as of Thursday afternoon.
Finnegan was arrested in June 2015 and charged by state police with driving under the influence as a minor while on Burnsville Ridge Road in West Finley Township. Washington County Judge Valarie Costanzo issued a bench warrant for Finnegan’s arrest after he failed to appear for his DUI hearing before her Jan. 25, 2016.