Authorities: Pemberton Woman High in Crash That Killed Moorestown Woman

A Pemberton Township woman was high on drugs when she struck and killed a Moorestown woman in a head-on crash in February, according to authorities.

The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said Shannon M. Sidorek, 29, of West Hampton Street, Pemberton, was under the influence of morphine and oxycontin when she veered across the center line of Route 530 in Pemberton—also known as the Pemberton Bypass—on the afternoon of Feb. 28 and struck 81-year-old Elizabeth Smith’s vehicle.

Smith, of Moorestown, died at the scene of the crash. Sidorek was pulled from her 1997 Acura and flown to a Trenton hospital, where blood samples were drawn and submitted for forensic testing, the prosecutor said. The tests came back positive for narcotics. 

Sidorek has been charged with vehicular homicide and possession of a controlled dangerous substance. She was taken into custody at her home on June 8.

Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert set Sidorek’s bail at $100,000 Monday, with 10 percent permissible.

The collision was investigated by detectives from the Pemberton Township Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office Collision and Accident Reconstruction Unit.