The promising future of a Florida high school football player and aspiring Marine was cut short last Friday when a suspected drunk driver took her life.
Sophia Delott, 17, of Indian Rocks Beach, was riding her bike home on Indian Rocks Causeway Bridge when police said Neil Singhal, 69, swerved into the lane and hit her at around 10.30pm on June 28.
The teenager was thrown off her bike and later died in hospital.
Sophia Delott, 17, of Indian Rocks Beach, was killed by a suspected drunk driver on June 28. She was the only female player on Seminole High School’s football team
Delott was also an aspiring Marine. Her football coach arranged for a surprise visit by a Marine recruiter after practice last month to announce that the teen had enlisted
The driver Neil Singhal, 69, has been charged with DUI manslaughter and is in jail
Singhal was not injured, but ‘showed numerous indicators of impairment during field sobriety tests,’ according to the arrest report.
Delott was well know at Seminole High School for being the only female player on the football team, something the ‘humble’ teen never wanted to make a fuss about, her coach said.
‘She didn’t (join the team) to gain any recognition or anything, she just wanted to play football,’ Seminole High School Warhawks Football Coach Chris Miller told Fox13.
‘She didn’t want to be treated any different — so we didn’t. She was treated like anybody else in spring football,’ Miller said.
She was planning on joining the Marines when she graduated next year.
Miller said he found out she was joining the force because her swearing-in ceremony was the first time ever she missed football practice.
Delott was popular in the community. ‘She was a best friend to many and had so much going for herself!,’ a grieving friend wrote on Facebook. She is seen in Facebook photos
Delott’s football coach said the ‘humble’ 100lbs girl ‘didn’t want to be treated any different’ from the boys on the Warhawks football team
Grieving teammates have turned the girl’s locker into a memorial, with her No. 22 jersey, flowers and football cleats
‘Here’s this little girl, I mean, she’s five-foot-six and weighs about 100 pounds, she’s out here playing football with 16, 17, 18 year old young men, and not only has she joined the Marines, but she’s already gone through all the physical litmus tests, and she’s got her actual swearing-in ceremony, and that’s why she’s going to miss practice,’ he said.
Miller arranged for a surprise visit by a Marine recruiter after practice last month to announce that Delott had enlisted, and a sweet Twitter video shows her teammates lifting her up in celebration.
Her recruiter, Sgt. Paul Digness, said: ‘I wanted her to do well, and I knew she was going to – we all saw that. And it’s a big loss because I know the potential she had just in my short time I had with her.’
‘Our last picture before the unthinkable happened,’ the girl’s mother, Dawn McNichols wrote when she posted this photo of her and her daughter on Facebook
The community are also mourning the loss of a popular friend and student. A funeral for Delott was held in Illinois today, July 5
Delott’s coach last saw her after practice on June 27. After learning about her death, the team wrote on Facebook: ‘Sophie was a Warhawk through and through. She was a Marine. Most of all, she was our family’
Coach Miller said he last saw Delott, who played safety for the Warhawks team, after practice last Thursday morning.
‘Sophie was the last one to leave. I told her I’d see her next week,’ he said.
‘And then I got a phone call Saturday morning, about 6:00 in the morning, from our head basketball coach, who told me Sophie had been killed by a drunk driver.’
The team posted the news on Facebook, writing: ‘Last night, one of our own was taken from us by a drunk driver. Sophie was a Warhawk through and through. She was a Marine. Most of all, she was our family.’
Distraught teammates have turned the girl’s locker into a memorial, with her No. 22 jersey, flowers and football cleats.
‘She was a super strong person,’ Teammate Cayden Edds, 17, told the Tampa Bay Times.
‘She just meant so much to us and this whole football program,’ fellow player Bruno Boyens told Fox13.
Other people in the community are also mourning the loss of a popular friend and student.
‘It is with a heavy heart that I say that a student that went to my school, was struck and killed by a drunk driver last night,’ Shane Wall O’Connor wrote on Facebook.
‘She was a best friend to many and had so much going for herself!’
‘That could be my kid,’ Grace MacDonald, vice president of the Seminole High Football Boosters, told Spectrum News.
‘It could be any of these boys. It’s just devastating.’
A funeral for Delott was held in Illinois today, July 5.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the football team to raise money for her family.
The alleged drunk driver who killed Delott is being held in the Pinellas County Jail, police said, where he remains on a $200,000 bond.
Singhal has been charged with DUI manslaughter.
A deputy noted that he had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and that he reeked of booze at the time of his arrest.
Prosecutors additionally alleged a bottle of vodka was found in his car at the time of the crash, Fox 13 reported.