Tragic twist after horror crash kills three young Aussies ‘trapped’ in car

A 21-year-old, allegedly driving on a suspended license, has been charged over a horrific car crash that killed three young people in rural NSW last weekend.

Police say the tragedy occurred on Sunday at the intersection of Bungendore and Collector roads in Tarago — a small town in the NSW Southern Tablelands — when the vehicle the group were traveling in “left the road and rolled” and flipped “to rest on its roof “.

It’s alleged the group became “trapped” in the badly damaged vehicle and were unable to free themselves. Inside the car were two women Brooke Sorlie, 20, and Charlie Quinn, 18, and another man Aaron French, 20, — all three died at the scene.

Driver charged over fatal car crash

The vehicle’s driver, a 21-year-old man identified by numerous publications as Lachlan Stuckey of North Nowra, believed to be Quinn’s boyfriend, was able to get out of the vehicle unassisted and escaped with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

He was taken to Canberra Hospital and also underwent mandatory testing. This week specialist officers investigating the crash alleged the young man had a suspended license.

On Thursday, the driver attended Nowra Police Station where he was arrested and charged with three counts of negligent driving causing death and one count of driving a motor vehicle with a suspended license, police said.

He has been granted conditional bail and will appear at Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday. Investigations are ongoing.

Loved ones remember young women ‘taken too soon’

Sorlie, Quinn and French are all believed to be from the Shoalhaven region, with tributes flowing on social media as their identities emerged.

“My condolences to Brooke’s family. A smart young lady gone soon, this has truly come as a shock for us all,” a loved one wrote of Sorlie. “I just got a phone call two hours ago — totally devastated,” another woman said.

“Taken but never forgotten,” wrote another. A friend of Sorlie’s who spoke to media described the 21-year-old as someone who “always had time for anyone” and who was “loved by everyone and had a contagious smile.”

First responder’s chilling account of driver’s ‘screams’

A first respond to the scene described hearing the harrowing “screams” of one of the men involved, who begged her to save his girlfriend. “They were unconscious. We were giving them CPR but it just wouldn’t work. It was awful,” she told Daily Mail Australia.

“One girl was still trapped in the car — the driver’s girlfriend. I can still hear his screams. He was screaming to try and get in the car to get his girlfriend out.”

Online, people were critical of the roads in the area, claiming the conditions are poor. One person said the stretch was “one of the worst roads I’ve driven on” with “patched potholes everywhere.”

Another said “it’s been shocking for years” arguing it’s “not fair that the roads are in this condition.”

Anyone with information about the crash is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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