Man, 19, hanging out truck window killed in crash with pole

Police say he was motioning to friends walking near Davidsonville road

A 19-year-old Silver Spring man was killed Monday when he leaned out of a truck traveling on a Davidsonville road to motion to friends walking in an adjacent field and the vehicle sideswiped a telephone pole, according to Anne Arundel County police.

Officers were called about 5:40 p.m. Monday to Governor Bridge Road near Patuxent River Road and found David Shigeru Yamamoto Hepner of the 900 block of Devere Drive suffering from life-threatening injuries. Investigators said Hepner was the right rear passenger in a 2004 Chevy truck traveling east on Governor Bridge Road and driven by Zachary Taylor Bennett, 18, of the 3900 block of Bayside Drive in Edgewater. There were two other passengers in the vehicle, identified by police as Amanda Dawn Scott, 19, of the 3700 block of Eighth Ave. in Edgewater and Julia Sophianna Rubin, 18, of the 900 block of Devere Drive in Silver Spring.

When the truck's occupants saw some friends walking in a field on the south side of the roadway, they yelled and waved, with Hepner hanging out the window from his waist up, police said. The truck moved to the right, and Hepner struck the telephone pole, according to police.

Hepner was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Police said speed and alcohol did not appear to be factors in the crash. No one else was injured.