Driver Charged for Killing American Idol Contestant in Hit-and-Run
A man has been charged in the weekend hit-and-run death of two-time American Idol contestant Alexis Cohen.
Daniel Bark, 23, was arrested around 6 p.m. Sunday and charged with causing Cohen’s death by reckless driving and leaving the scene of a collision, The Asbury Park Journal reports.
Bark, currently being held in Ocean County Jail in Toms River, N.J. on $35,000 bail, faces 10 to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Cohen, 25, was struck early Saturday morning in Seaside Heights. She was found around 4 a.m. by two passerby who called 911, Deputy Chief Michael Mohel of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office tells the Morning Call newspaper of her hometown, Allentown, Penn.
She was pronounced dead at 6:35 a.m. at the Community Medical Center in Toms River, N.J. Autopsy results show she suffered chest, head and abdominal injuries, Mohel says.
Cohen auditioned for the seventh season in Philadelphia in 2007, but the show didn’t air until January 2008. Idol cameras followed her to to her Allentown, Penn. studio apartment, which she shared with her mother, two cats and her dog.
“I march to the beat of a different drummer,” admitted the memorable contestant. After Simon Cowell didn’t vote her through to Hollywood, Cohen ranted he was “egotistical” and declared she was going into acting.
She later appeared on The View, Live With Regis and Kelly and Howard Stern’s radio show.
Cohen unsuccessfully tried out again during Idol’s eighth season.
