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By Associated PressThe teen jumped into a canal, leaving behind a companion she was driving to a hospital, Lee County officials say.
CAPE CORAL - A high school honor student and track standout drowned when she jumped into a canal while running away from police following a hit-and-run accident, authorities said.
Family members and police were trying to make sense of the Monday morning death of Rachel Hooppaw, 16.
Police spokesman Angelo Bitsis said an off-duty Lee County sheriff's deputy followed her Toyota SUV after it was involved in a hit-and-run crash.
When Cape Coral officers approached her SUV after it stopped, she ran, leaving behind a companion she was driving to a hospital after he had apparently shot himself in the leg at his home, Bitsis said.
Hooppaw jumped into a 12-foot-deep canal, Bitsis said, and swam away.
She was not breathing when divers recovered her body. Her companion, Jeffrey Fenneman, 23, was treated for his wound at a hospital and released.
Hooppaw's stepfather, Dean Cavalieri, didn't know how Hooppaw knew Fenneman.