Family Questions Police Actions In Fatal Crash

A Lincolnton teenager was killed in a car accident Wednesday night, and her family is questioning police involvement.

Police said 18-year-old Michelle Platt lost control of a Ford F-150 pickup truck on Bess Chapel Road.

A highway patrol trooper tried to stop the truck for speeding on N.C. 279 near Cherryville around 9:30 p.m., but Platt didn’t stop, officers said.

Authorities in Lincoln County were looking for a white pickup truck involved in an earlier chase, and Platt's family thinks her truck may have been mistaken for that vehicle.

The girl’s grandmother said Platt had been cautioned about police impersonators and taught not to stop her car until she was in a safe area.

The truck continued west and turned onto N.C. 150, then made several other turns before the crash.

Police said the truck slid into trees.

Platt was a student at West Lincoln High School.

An accident reconstruction team is going over the entire incident and trying to reconstruct exactly what happened. Deputies in Lincoln and Gaston counties are also investigating.