APP (Asbury Park Press) | From the Jersey Sure to You
http://www.app.com/article/20090727/NEWS/907270352/-1/FRONTTABS01/+Idol++hopeful+Alexis+Cohen+killed+by+driver+fleeing+police++cops+say
By Kathleen Hopkins • TOMS RIVER BUREAU • July 27, 2009
'Idol' hopeful Alexis Cohen killed by driver fleeing police, cops say
TOMS RIVER — It started with a fender-bender in a nightclub parking lot and ended — police say — with the death of a former "American Idol" contestant in the resort community of Seaside Heights Saturday morning.
Authorities outlined that chain of events at a news conference Monday on the alleged, alcohol-related, hit-and-run fatality of a Alexis E. Cohen, a 25-year-old woman from Allentown, Pa., who had twice hoped to compete on the nationally televised talent show.
Now, Daniel Bark, 23, is on suicide watch at the Ocean County Jail here, distraught that he is charged with causing someone's death, said his Freehold-based attorney, David Glassman.
Bark, of Huddy Drive, Toms River, was arrested at 6 p.m. Sunday at his job at the Atlantic Highlands Foodtown, where he is a delicatessen clerk, authorities said. He was then charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
On Monday, shortly after Bark appeared before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels on that charge, Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford announced her office had filed additional charges against Bark. They are: aggravated manslaughter by causing the death of another while fleeing from law enforcement officers; vehicular homicide; and eluding police.
Daniels set bail on those charges at $150,000, with no option to gain release by posting 10 percent of the amount.
Ford said at a news conference that Bark was stopped by Seaside Heights police about 4 a.m. Saturday and issued a number of motor-vehicle summonses, including driving while intoxicated. That was after he fled from bicycle police officers when he struck a parked car with his 2005 Mitsubishi Galant in the parking lot of Hemingway's, a popular night spot on the Boulevard in Seaside Heights, Ford said.
The prosecutor described the initial incident as a minor fender-bender. But instead of stopping for the bicycle officers, Bark fled on Dupont Avenue to Bay Avenue — where the fatal hit-and-run allegedly occurred — proceeding northbound in the southbound lanes, she said.
Officers in patrol cars eventually stopped Bark a few blocks away, at Hamilton and Bay avenues, adjacent to the entrance to the Route 37 bridges that span the Barnegat Bay connecting Seaside Heights to Toms River.
At the time, the patrol officers were unaware that Cohen lay dead just blocks away, Ford said at the news conference.
About an hour later, two people called Seaside Heights police to report a lifeless woman near the intersection of Bay and Dupont avenues in a residential area, Ford said.
The victim was later identified as Cohen, who twice auditioned unsuccessfully for "American Idol," Season 7 — during which her angry, post-rejection rant was aired — and Season 8 last year.
The victim was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where she was pronounced dead at 6:35 a.m. Saturday.
An autopsy performed on Sunday revealed that Cohen died as a result of injuries to her head and torso, Ford said. Police said she had been struck by a vehicle.
Meanwhile, Bark was charged early Saturday with driving while intoxicated after he refused to take a breath test, Ford said. Authorities are awaiting the results of toxicological tests to determine the level of alcohol in his blood, she said. He was released from custody Saturday morning when someone came to pick him up at Seaside Heights police headquarters, authorities said.
Bark was convicted five years ago, at age 18, of underage drinking and driving, and had his driver's license suspended for nine months for that offense, the prosecutor said.
Further investigation over the weekend by Seaside Heights Detective John Dymerski, Steve Korman, supervisor of detectives in Seaside Heights, and prosecutor's Sgt. Elliot Morgan led to Bark being charged with Cohen's fatality, said Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd.
Ford said that, so far, no witnesses to the accident have contacted investigators, but authorities still are asking anyone who may have seen it or who may know either Cohen's or Bark's whereabouts earlier Saturday morning to come forward, no matter how seemingly insignificant the information may seem. They may call Korman at 732-793-1800 or Morgan at 732- 929-2027.
"At this point in time, we do not have information to suggest that Mr. Bark and the victim were known to one another or were socializing that evening," Ford said.
Ford said Cohen's family was aware she was going to be away for the weekend.
Glassman, Bark's lawyer, meanwhile extended condolences to Cohen's family on behalf of Bark's family.
"His family is extremely distraught about what happened to the victim in this case," Glassman said.
Regarding Bark, Glassman said, "He's having an extremely difficult time mentally coming to terms with the fact that there's an allegation that he caused a death."
Bark appeared sullen in court and responded softly, "Yes, sir," when the judge asked him if he understood his constitutional rights.
If he is convicted of aggravated manslaughter, Bark could face up to 30 years in prison. He could face up to 10 years in prison on each of the other charges against him, upon convictions.
Jay A. Scherline, the Allentown-based attorney who represents the victim's mother, Mindy Cohen, said, "They want some time to grieve over their daughter. The most important thing is the loss of a loved one, and the mother is obviously distraught."
He said a funeral, still in the planning stages, is likely to be held Friday.