District Attorney Jim Martin and Emmaus Police Chief David Faust announced no charges will be filed in an Emmaus traffic accident involving two young girls resulting in one fatality.

On May 18 at approximately 4:04 p.m., two young pedestrians were struck as they crossed northbound from the southwest corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets in Emmaus.

Abigail Zukowski, 11, of 665 Harrison St., Emmaus, was pronounced deceased at Lehigh Valley Hospital Center, Cedar Crest, shortly after arrival, at approximately 4:35 p.m.

Zukowski's friend, Mya Walrath, 10, of 622 Chestnut St., Emmaus, was seriously injured, but was treated and released from Lehigh Valley Hospital Center, Cedar Crest, Salisbury Township, several days after the accident.

The accident was investigated by the Emmaus Police Department. The lead investigator was Officer Jeremy Schilling, an 11-year veteran of the department.

The Emmaus Police Department was assisted by Sgt. Paul Dickinson, Jr., of the South Whitehall Township Police Department. Dickinson has over 11 years experience on the police department and over nine years experience as an accident reconstructionist.

The investigation discloses the girls, who attend school together and were friends, went to the Walrath residence on Chestnut Street, about one block from the accident scene. The girls went to the residence at the end of the school day.

Both girls attend Jefferson Elementary School on Elm Street in the borough, several blocks from the Walrath residence.

It was reported the girls left the Walrath residence on foot and were en route to Zukowski's residence, approximately six blocks from the accident scene.

Walrath's mother left her residence on Chestnut Street a short time after the girls and was approximately 100 feet away from them when the accident occurred.

At the time of the accident, several witnesses were in vehicles proceeding both north and south on Sixth Street and were stopped for a red light. In addition, there were vehicles travelling both east and west along Chestnut Street shortly before the accident.

The investigation discloses the girls were standing on the corner, engaged in conversation, and suddenly either walked or, based on some witness accounts, ran into the intersection.

Both girls were struck in the approximate center of the eastbound lane of travel on Chestnut Street by a 2015 Buick Lacrosse operated by Richard Shaffer, age 82, of Coopersburg. His wife Kathryn, age 77, was in the passenger seat at the time of the accident. The investigation discloses the estimated speed of the Shaffer vehicle was between 30 and 35 mph.

The speed limit on Chestnut Street is 35 mph in the area of the accident scene.

Richard Shaffer was fully cooperative with police and voluntarily consented to a blood draw, which showed no evidence of either alcohol or drugs. In addition, both Richard and Kathryn Shaffer consented to a search of their cellphone, which at the time of the accident was in the possession of Kathryn Shaffer and in her purse. The cellphone showed no evidence of any phone calls or text messages in the time period leading up to the accident.

The vehicle was inspected by Trooper Brianne Gladd of the Pennsylvania State Police.

The vehicle showed no mechanical defects and no mechanical problems and none which would have contributed to this accident.

An "ECM" ("black box") download was attempted; however, no data was able to be extracted because the impact was not severe enough to trigger the device. The vehicle had 1,257 miles on the odometer and had been owned by the Shaffers for approximately three months prior to the incident.

The damage to the vehicle as a result of the accident is very minimal, consisting of some small dents on the grill of the Buick and consistent with low impact speed.

In total, nine witnesses from various vantage points were interviewed by the police during the course of the investigation.

No witness indicates an opinion of speed greater than that indicated by the accident reconstruction.

In addition, video footage was obtained from a convenience store located at the corner immediately adjacent to the accident scene, as well as from a school bus which was travelling several cars behind the vehicle.

In neither case does the video show the actual impact; however, it is of assistance to the reconstruction of this accident because Dickinson was able to corroborate his estimate of speed in part from the convenience store video.

In summary, the result of the investigation including the accident reconstruction shows Richard Shaffer was travelling within the speed limit, had a green traffic light as he was approaching the intersection and the impact point, the light remained green immediately following impact and, given the speed of the vehicle and the point of impact, the reaction time was such Richard Shaffer could not have avoided the accident

Accordingly, no charges will be filed against Richard Shaffer as a result.

Both the Emmaus Police Department and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Abigail Zukowski and our best wishes for a full recovery to Mya Walrath.