N.J. Woman Killed 3 In Bensalem Drunk-Driving Crash (ICYMI)

BENSALEM, PA — A New Jersey woman who was drunk and driving the wrong way on Interstate 95 in Bensalem when she killed three people in an April crash pleaded guilty in the case on Monday.

Priscilla Cortez, 33, of Camden, N.J., pleaded guilty to three counts each of homicide by vehicle while drunken driving and homicide by vehicle, as well as three counts of drunken driving and several other offenses.

Bucks County Common Pleas Court Judge C. Theodore Frisch, Jr. deferred sentencing in the case for 60 days.

Cortez was arrested in May and charged in the deaths of Ryan Connell, 28 and Leanne Popson, 35, of Levittown, and Lucas Galatko, 36, of Yardley.

She was driving the wrong way on I-95 northbound in Bensalem at about 1:40 a.m. on April 1 when she crashed into the group's Chrysler, killing the three. All three victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

According to investigators, Cortez was driving 69 m.p.h. in a 55 m.ph. zone at the time of the crash. She consented to a blood draw and tested at .156 percent, nearly twice Pennsylvania's legal alcohol limit. She also had marijuana in her system, according to prosecutors.

The case was investigated by Pennsylvania State Police and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Robert D. James.