Police: Text Message Preceded Crash

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to clarify the fact that the driver was not using his cell phone when the accident happened.

Police say an attempt to check a text message while driving caused an accident on Polk Valley Road March 10.

According to police, at about 2:45pm a 17-year-old male driver from Hellertown was eastbound on Polk Valley Road when he received a text message on his cell phone. A 15-year-old female passenger from Hellertown then took hold of the steering wheel "and told him she would steer (the vehicle) while he attended to his phone," police said.

That's when police say things took a turn for the worse--literally--when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree head on, east of Illick Road.

Both driver and passenger were transported to St. Luke's Hospital for treatment of minor and unknown injuries, respectively, and the vehicle had to be towed from the scene, police said. Local fire units responded to the scene for fluid and debris removal.

The teen driver of the vehicle was cited for careless driving, police said.