Teenage driver kills her two friends after falling asleep at the wheel and slamming into a tree at approximately 60mph

A teenage driver killed her two friends when she fell asleep at the wheel and slammed in to a tree early Sunday morning, officials said.

The deadly single-car crash occurred just before 3am in Martinez, California, according to State Highway Patrol officers. The driver is in critical condition.

All three girls attended College Park High School and were 16 and 17 years old, and the school's Associated Student Body used a tweet to identify the passengers as Marley and Lauren and the driver as Kylie.

Highway Patrol officer Ken Martin told NBC Bay Area that the driver was trying to 'negotiate' a turn when she fell asleep. He said that the last thing the girl remembers is going 60 miles per hour, according to KRON. The Toyota Solara then slammed into a tree on its passenger side, Martin said.

 

'With the airbag deployment and probably safety restraints that the driver had on, she was able to survive the collision,' Martin said. 'But unfortunately, just because of the severity, with the tree and the car impacted right there on the passenger side, they really didn't stand a chance.'

College Park High School principal Paul Gengler sent a letter to parents on Sunday informing them of the 'sad and tragic news'. 

'Parents, please monitor your child the next few days and check in with them to see how they are feeling,' he wrote. 'We are saddened by this tragic event and together we will work through this difficult time.' 

Grief counselors will be available to students at the school, Gengler said. And investigation into the incident is ongoing, but Martin said drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been a factor in the crash. The girls were all wearing their seat belts, highway patrol officials told ABC 7. 

Officials said that there were Halloween parties in the area on Saturday night but the whereabouts of the girls before the crash has not been revealed. 

'A lot of bad stuff happens at 3am, but I don't know what the circumstances were in this particular incident,' a highway patrol official said.
 Daily Mail