FROM WTOPNEWS.COM
Driver Involved in Deadly Work Site Accident in Police Custody
August 14, 2007 - 6:17am
BURTONSVILLE, Md. -- The driver who allegedly slammed into five construction workers on Route 29 Monday afternoon is in police custody.
Police have not released any more information, other than to say they have a person in custody.
One construction worker, 30-year-old Martin Ruffin of Baltimore, was killed and four other men injured when the van plowed through a construction site. The driver then took off.
The accident around 1 p.m. occurred when five construction workers were taking a break and sitting on a guardrail on northbound Route 29 -- north of Route 198 just before the Howard County line. The white Ford Econoline 150 work van careened out of control and struck a construction truck parked nearby, Montgomery County Police say.
Police say the impact caused the van to veer to the right and strike all five workers sitting on the guardrail. The force of the crash also caused the parked construction truck to hit another parked truck, which then hit a cement mixer.
Four men are hospitalized, police say. One of them, James Cronin, 37, of Glen Burnie, is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. The others are expected to survive.
After the crash, the driver jumped out of the van and ran into a wooded area off of Route 29. Police believe there may have been other people in the van who also fled. Police found blood in the van and say the driver may have also been injured.
The van is registered to an individual -- not a company -- and the driver may have been on his way to a work site, police say.
At the time of the accident, the workers had just finished patching up some sections on the bridge deck on southbound Route 29 and gathered on the northbound side to rest.
Anyone with information about the accident can call the Montgomery County Police Collision Reconstruction Unit at 301-840-2435 or the police non-emergency number at 301-279-8000.
(Copyright 2007 by WTOP and The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
BURTONSVILLE, Md. -- The driver who allegedly slammed into five construction workers on Route 29 Monday afternoon is in police custody.
Police have not released any more information, other than to say they have a person in custody.
One construction worker, 30-year-old Martin Ruffin of Baltimore, was killed and four other men injured when the van plowed through a construction site. The driver then took off.
The accident around 1 p.m. occurred when five construction workers were taking a break and sitting on a guardrail on northbound Route 29 -- north of Route 198 just before the Howard County line. The white Ford Econoline 150 work van careened out of control and struck a construction truck parked nearby, Montgomery County Police say.
Police say the impact caused the van to veer to the right and strike all five workers sitting on the guardrail. The force of the crash also caused the parked construction truck to hit another parked truck, which then hit a cement mixer.
Four men are hospitalized, police say. One of them, James Cronin, 37, of Glen Burnie, is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. The others are expected to survive.
After the crash, the driver jumped out of the van and ran into a wooded area off of Route 29. Police believe there may have been other people in the van who also fled. Police found blood in the van and say the driver may have also been injured.
The van is registered to an individual -- not a company -- and the driver may have been on his way to a work site, police say.
At the time of the accident, the workers had just finished patching up some sections on the bridge deck on southbound Route 29 and gathered on the northbound side to rest.