Police identify driver killed in seven-vehicle crash on Ritchie Highway
PASADENA, MD
One person was killed and four were injured in a wreck at the intersection of Ritchie Highway and Jumpers Hole Road, police said.
Lauren Loricchio lloricchio@capgaznews.com
Police identify driver who died in 7-vehicle crash on Ritchie Highway
Anne Arundel County police on Friday released the identity of a woman who died a day earlier in a seven-vehicle crash in Pasadena.
Janet Ellen Stomps, 44, of Arnold, was the driver of a silver 2014 Honda Accord that was struck by a trash truck at around 2:10 p.m. on Ritchie Highway at Jumpers Hole Road. She was pronounced dead at the scene and later taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy.
Numerous witnesses told police the truck was traveling south on Ritchie Highway toward Jumpers Hole Road when it struck the back of the Honda Accord, which was stopped with numerous other vehicles at a red traffic signal. The impact forced the Accord forward as the truck plowed into other stopped cars, police said.
Police said there is no evidence that the truck was braking or making any maneuvers to avoid the crash.
The driver of the trash truck, identified by police as Robert Peter Neal, 55, of Abingdon, was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for injuries as a precautionary measure, police said. A Shock Trauma spokeswoman said Neal was in good condition on Friday morning.
Emergency officials investigate a fatal crash on Ritchie Highway involving six vehicles and a trash truck. (Craig Urban / Correspondent)
Neal was driving a truck owned by trash hauling company Bay Area Disposal of Owings, police said. When reached by phone on Friday morning, an employee declined to comment.
Three other people were taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie for minor injuries sustained in the crash – including an 18-year-old woman driving a blue Honda CR-V, a 52-year-old woman driving a black BMW and 83-year-old James Garner Sr., the driver of a blue Chevrolet minivan, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed.
All three have been treated and released, said BWMC spokeswoman Kristin Fleckenstein.
MaryJane Garner and husband James, of Pasadena, were among those involved in the trash truck. They were on their way to go shopping at an Aldi grocery store.
"It was kind of fast," MaryJane said. "We were sitting there waiting for the light to change and bang — we were struck and hit."
MaryJane said she had never been involved in a car accident before.
"We were upset when we heard about the woman who died," MaryJane said. "She was between us. We were very, very lucky."
The couple's blue minivan was destroyed in the crash. The occupants of remaining vehicles refused medical treatment, police said.
Investigators found in a preliminary investigation the crash was caused by the trash truck driver's failure to reduce his speed to avoid the collision and driving at a "speed greater than reasonable and prudent," police said.
Police declined to comment about whether drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.
The county police department's traffic safety division is handling the investigation. Any charges are pending review by the State's Attorney's Office, police said.
Traffic was tied up for hours Thursday afternoon and into the evening while police investigated.
Southbound lanes were closed until about 7:45 p.m. and northbound traffic was confined to one lane until the roadway was completely opened just before 8 p.m.