The father of a 21-year-old girl who died in a car crash after being filmed fooling around behind the wheel said he will be haunted forever.
Shania McNeill, from Queensland, died after crashing her Suzuki into a Nissan Micra on Richmond Road in Berkshire Park, in Sydney’s west, on Sunday just before 1.15am.
‘It was that knock at door every parent dreads… (at) 3.30, 4 o’clock in the morning,’ Shania’s father Lee McNeill told 9 News of the heartbreaking moment police informed him of his daughter’s death.
The father of a 21-year-old girl who died in a car crash after being filmed fooling around behind the wheel said he will be haunted forever by the knocks at his door by policeman
‘That pounding on the door down the hallway, that sound is going to haunt me for the rest of my life,’ he said.
Mr McNeill doesn’t blame his daughter’s friends who were in the car, but says it was reckless of them to be distracting each other.
‘As a parent you never think something like this is going to happen, I always told her I love her but I wish i could just tell her again,’ he said.
Two female passengers in the car, Faeda Hunter and Hazel Wildman, and the two male occupants of the other vehicle all survived but were injured.
Daily Mail Australia has obtained a Snapchat video taken throughout the three friends’ night which began with them dancing and mucking around in a bathroom.
A Snapchat story taken hours before the deadly crash shows 21-year-old Shania McNeill fooling around in a bathroom with her friends
The Snapchat video story then cuts to a clip of the girls in Shania’s car where she is seen taking swigs from a tin can while the vehicle is parked.
Later she is seen back behind the wheel driving in the middle of two lanes while singing along to loud music.
At the end of the clip, the friend taking the video is heard screaming while Shania is seen driving on the opposite side of the road with an oncoming car’s headlights beaming in her direction.
The clip later cuts to the three girls in Shania’s car where she is seen taking swigs from a tin can while parked
Police said on Tuesday they are now investigating reports that the young woman may have been playing ‘chicken’ with other drivers on the road.
They are also looking into whether alcohol played a role in the crash.
Hours after the collision, the two surviving friends shared a selfie of themselves recovering in hospital.
In the image, both Hazel and Faeda are seen wearing neck braces and hooked up to medical machines.
Throughout the video, Shania is filmed dancing and singing to loud music behind the wheel of her car
Shania’s former boyfriend Joel Bentley has slammed the girls for sharing a picture in hospital shortly after the death of their friend.
‘It’s disgraceful, if your friends just died in hospital, who the hell takes a photo? he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘She had to be cut out of the car … it’s not the time to be taking selfies and posting them all over social media.’
At the end of the clip, the friend taking the video is heard screaming while Shania is seen driving on the opposite side of the road with an oncoming car’s headlights beaming in her direction
The woman’s Suzuki collided with a Nissan Micra on Richmond Road in Berkshire Park, in Sydney’s west, on Sunday just before 1.15am. Shania was pronounced dead at the scene
Ryan Archer, who identified himself as a ‘friend of a friend’ of the Shania, shared the footage on Facebook but was forced to take it down after receiving ‘threats and abuse.’
‘At least its gone viral, and the truth about the night is now out there,’ he wrote in a post.
‘If you see any of your friends acting in a dangerous manner, do something about it. No more lives need to be lost due to stupidity.’
Hazel Wildman (left) and Faeda Hunter (right) take a selfie in hospital just one day after their friend Shania McNeill was killed in a horror car crash
Faeda (left) and Hazel (right) received backlash for posting a selfie in hospital, hours after their friend died
Shania’s former boyfriend Joel Bentley (pictured together) has slammed the girls for sharing a picture in hospital shortly after the death of their friend
Archer told Daily Mail Australia that witnesses told him they saw Shania driving into oncoming traffic.
‘A few people I’ve spoken to almost got run off the road by her,’ he said.
During a press conference in Huntingwood on Tuesday, Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander Assistant Commissioner Michael Corbody told reporters it is unclear how long after the video was taken that Shania crashed.
‘The most disturbing thing with the video is her family and parents will have to look at that video now,’ he said.
‘The fact it’s gone online, the fact they have to live with that, is disturbing.’
A man, named only as Mr Fuller, was travelling on Richmond Road on Sunday moments before the crash.
He told the Daily Telegraph that he had been driving when a car deliberately swerved towards him.
‘The first car closest to me moved over onto my side of the road. It was a violent swerve towards me… quite intentional,’ he said.
The McNeill family has launched a GoFundMe page to help with the costs of the funeral. It raised $12,550 of the $10,000 goal in 23 hours
‘I moved out of the way and it seemed to take a second swipe at me.’
The Snapchat footage was uploaded and viewed by up to 50 people around the time Ms McNeill crashed, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Officers driving along Richmond Road noticed bystanders helping people out of the two destroyed vehicles.
Two men from the other vehicle, a 61-year-old driver and a 39-year-old passenger, were taken to hospital.
One was taken to Westmead Hospital in a serious but stable condition and the second man suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The devastated family and friends of Ms McNeill have paid tribute to her ‘beautiful soul’ online.
Ms McNeill’s housemate and friend Rachel Macefield said that she was one of a kind and had ‘brought light to my life’.
‘In such a short amount of time she has put such a big impact on me and my whole family and anyone that knew her. She was honestly just a beautiful soul.’