LOCAL CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

6 road construction workers killed in Maryland when car crashes into them

The incident occurred in a work zone on Interstate 695, state police said

By Jasmine Hilton
Updated March 23, 2023 at 12:45 a.m. EDT | Published March 22, 2023 at 9:01 p.m. EDT

Six construction workers died after a car hit them on Interstate 695 in Baltimore County on Wednesday afternoon after a driver entered a work zone, Maryland State Police said.

Troopers responded about 12:40 p.m. to the inner loop of I-695 at Security Boulevard in Woodlawn for a reported pedestrian crash, police said in a statement.

According to an initial investigation, the driver of a gray Acura, later identified as Lisa Adrienna Lea, 54, of Randallstown, Md., was attempting to change lanes when her car struck the front corner panel on the passenger side of a Volkswagen driven by Melachi Brown, 20, of Windsor Mill, Md. That caused the Acura to lose control and hit several highway workers before overturning, police said.

Lea, who was the sole occupant of the Acura, was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Brown was not report any injuries, police said. ... The identities of the deceased have not been released pending notification of next of kin.

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The National Transportation Safety Board announced late Wednesday that it would be sending personnel to assist with the investigation.

By Jasmine Hilton
Jasmine Hilton is a reporter covering crime and courts on the Metro desk at The Washington Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/jas_hilton

NTSB releases initial report on Maryland crash that killed 6 highway workers

Kate Ryan | kryan@wtop.com
April 14, 2023, 12:27 AM

The National Transportation Safety Board has released an initial report regarding a crash that killed six highway construction workers in Maryland last month, and it states the two vehicles that collided before the fatal crash were reportedly going above the 55 mph speed limit “and greater than the speed of the adjacent traffic.”

After the two cars collided, the report states, a 2017 Acura driven by 54-year-old Lisa Adrienna Lea veered into the work zone along the stretch of Interstate 695 near Woodlawn through a gap in the jersey barriers, before striking and killing the six workers on the highway project. ... The driver of the Acura was injured and treated at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

The work zone was part of a project stretching about 19 miles of I-695 between Interstate 70 and Maryland State Highway 43.

The workers killed in the crash were 46-year-old Rolando Ruiz of Laurel; 46-year-old Sybil Lee Dimaggio of Glen Burnie; 43-year-old Carlos Orlando Villatoro Escobar and his 52-year-old brother Jose Armando Escobar, both of Frederick; 31-year-old Mahlon Simmons III and his father, 52-year-old Mahlon Simmons II of Union Bridge, Maryland.

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Kate Ryan
As a member of the award-winning WTOP News, Kate is focused on state and local government. Her focus has always been on how decisions made in a council chamber or state house affect your house. She's also covered breaking news, education and more.

kryan@wtop.com
@KateRyanWTOP

BETTER ROADS

NTSB: Driver in Work-Zone Crash That Killed 6 Workers was Speeding

Don McLoud
Apr 14, 2023



The driver of this 2017 Acura TLX crashed into an I-695 work zone in Maryland killing six highway workers March 22.NTSB
The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on the interstate crash in a work zone in Maryland that killed six highway workers.

In the report, the NTSB says both drivers in the incident March 22 on I-695 in Woodlawn were traveling faster than the posted 55 mph speed limit and faster than adjacent traffic. The work zone was a long-term closure on the left shoulders of the northbound inner loop and part of a 19-mile project between I-70 and State Highway 43.

The work zone had concrete barriers to separate workers from traffic, but the car that spun out of control entered an opening in the barriers used by construction vehicles.

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