OPP are investigating a single vehicle crash that killed a Cambridge teen Friday night.
Police say just before 9 p.m. 18-year-old Samantha Rose DeSousa was driving west on Highway 403 in Burlington when for unknown reasons she lost control of her vehicle.
The car went into the right side ditch where it struck a pole and rolled over, coming to rest on its roof.
“EMS responders were there performing lifesaving efforts immediately upon arrival. Unfortunately they were not able to save her and she later pronounced dead at the scene,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CTV News.
DeSousa was alone in the car.
Police aren’t sure what caused the crash.
“The technical reconstruction team was on scene last night collecting all the evidence and they will be working on doing a reconstruction over the next coming days to try and figure out exactly why this happened and what happened. We’ll be looking at everything from mechanical defect, driving and then of course, any environmental or physiological factors from the driver as well. We don’t know if distraction, aggressive driving or impaired driving were any contributing factors. At this time we don’t have any information to believe that, but we will be waiting for the coroner’s report,” Schmidt said.
Friends say DeSousa was in her first year studying early childhood education at Conestoga College. She graduated from Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School in June. School officials say they will have a compassionate care team in place Monday to help students.
“It is a sad day for so many, but we hope the DeSousa family knows they are in the thoughts and prayers of an entire school system,” John Shewchuk, chief managing officer of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board said in a statement to CTV News.
Many of DeSousa’s friends took to social media to share their grief.
Police are still investigating, and ask any witnesses to contact the OPP highway safety division.
“If anyone was in the area that saw the collision, or saw the vehicle and didn’t stop or didn’t speak to investigators we certainly want to speak to them and see what they saw,” Schmidt said.
