Chester teen dies in car crash

CHESTER — A 19-year-old Chester woman died Monday evening in a one-car accident at Harriman State Park.

Ava Marie Hegarty crashed and flipped her car just before 6 p.m. May 21 on County Route 106, also known as Kanawauke Road, near Lake Welch in the Town of Haverstraw, Rockland County, according to the state park police. She had no passengers.

Hegarty was thrown from the vehicle then pinned underneath it, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident is still under investigation.

The Monroe-Woodbury school district is mourning the death of the 2011 graduate. Ava Marie was an art major at Monroe-Woodbury. She devoted her senior year to her passion.

"She was a kind and gentle soul with a creative spirit," said high school principal David Bernsley. "She was always seen staying after school to work on her projects. She was very well loved by faculty and students alike."

Ava Marie won two scholarships as a senior, the Parent-Teacher-Student Association's scholarship, and the Norah Fields Memorial Scholarship awarded to a senior artist "who celebrates the spirit and journey of their high school years."

"She was the kind of person who, when you looked at her and smiled," Bernsley said. "She was just so kind."