PENNSDALE – The speed of an out-of-control Audi A-4 was a contributing factor in causing last Tuesday night’s violent two-vehicle crash on Lycoming Mall Drive that killed the driver of the car and sent four members of a Northumberland County family riding in a Jeep Liberty to a hospital, according to Muncy Township Police Chief Christopher McKibben.

Killed instantly in the 9 p.m. crash, which occurred just west of the Fort Muncy Garden Center, was Mathew S. Edmondson, 23, of Montoursville, McKibben and Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. said.

Edmondson was traveling west at a high rate of speed on Lycoming Mall Drive when he lost control of the vehicle as he rounded a curve where John Brady Drive intersects, McKibben said.

The speed limit for that section of the road is 45 mph, but Edmondson was believed to be traveling well above that when the crash occurred, he said. The Audi’s exact speed will not be known until a state police accident reconstructionist completes his investigation.

Edmondson’s car “was already skidding sideways in the eastbound lane when it collided with a Jeep Liberty driven by Lindsey Meyer, of Montandon,” McKibben said.

“She really had no time to react at all,” McKibben said of the 31-year-old driver, who was riding with her 33-year-old husband, Allen, and the couple’s two children, a 7-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.

The four, who were wearing seat belts or in child safety seats, were taken by ambulances to the Muncy Valley Hospital, where they were treated for their injuries and later released, McKibben said he was told.

The impact crushed the driver’s side of the Audi. A tow truck was needed to pull the vehicles apart, and firefighters had to use extrication tools to free Edmondson’s body from the wreckage.

Muncy Township and Muncy Area volunteer firefighters responded to the crash as did volunteer fire police and representatives from the state Department of Transportation.

A section of the road was closed for at least five hours as township, Muncy Borough and state police worked together on investigating the crash.