Accident Scene

Six people were hospitalized early yesterday after a 17-year-old driver, fleeing a disorderly party with a carload of youths, crossed the center line on Cromwell Bridge Road and collided head-on with another vehicle, Baltimore County police said.The accident occurred near Loch Raven Senior High School just before midnight when a southbound 1985 Toyota Celica crossed the center line, trying to turn left onto Oakleigh Road, the police said.The 17-year-old Cockeysville youth was charged with driving while intoxicated and assault on a police officer, said the police, who withheld his name because he is a juvenile.

A 28-year-old New Jersey man was killed yesterday morning when a Virginia man's vehicle struck him at a busy intersection two blocks from the Boardwalk. Police said alcohol and speed contributed to the accident.Michael Ketcham of Wall, N.J., was crossing Philadelphia Avenue at Talbot Street with his brother at 2: 38 a.m. when a speeding southbound Chevrolet Blazer struck him, police said. The impact threw Ketcham more than 300 feet in the air, police said. He died at the scene.Robert Joseph Bartlett, 27, of Fairfax, Va., who is suspected of driving the Blazer, was captured after apparently trying to hide in the water under a pier six blocks from the accident scene, police said.

Maryland State Police believe an accident that killed two people yesterday morning in Gambrills was caused by the aggressive behavior of two drivers - one of whom died when he lost control of his car and slammed into two other vehicles. Troopers said they would display a message board this morning at the accident scene, on Route 32 near Interstate 97, urging witnesses to come forward if they have information about the accident, particularly about the second driver. Sgt. Thornnie Rouse, a spokesman for the state police, said speed and unsafe lane changes led to the 6:50 a.m. accident, which tied up traffic for more than three hours.

Two Columbia men were killed yesterday when their speeding car crashed on Harpers Farm Road, launching one victim 20 feet into roadside woods and trapping the second in the crumpled sedan for two hours.Howard County police released few details after the 7: 45 p.m. accident in the Village of Harpers Choice, but said the two men were Columbia residents believed to be in their late teens or early 20s.Police said the brown Honda Accord was sheared in half as it hit a curb, then a tree and flipped into nearby parkland.

Some Maryland State Bar Association officials are red-faced about the organization's response -- or lack of one -- to last month's fiery train accident in Silver Spring.Seven years ago, the state bar was one of the first in the country to deal with such tragedies, creating a "disaster information plan" to shield accident victims and their families from unscrupulous lawyers.But in the hours after the crash, as some attorneys canvassed the crash scene, gathering up clients and their multimillion-dollar lawsuits, the state bar was strangely absent.

WE'VE ALL gone by accident scenes. Crunched cars, scarred trees, glass and other debris littering the road. Unfortunately, some of us live near sites where accidents frequently happen. Jill Balthis is one such person. "Who is responsible for cleaning up after accidents?" she asked. According to JoAnn Maxfield, customer service representative for the Howard County Department of Public Works, the Police Department has arrangements with towing companies. After the tow truck loads up the damaged vehicle, the driver will sweep debris or glass to the side of the road and remove any large car parts.

CONSTRUCTION BARRELS STRUCK, WORKERS HURTTwo road workers were injured Tuesday when they were struck by several orange construction barrels that became airborne after being struck by a car on Cedar Lane in Columbia, county police said.Val Jackson, 23, of the 5900 block of Woodcutter Way, and Michael Means, 30, of the 300 block of East 27th Street in Baltimore, suffered minor injuries and bruises in the 3:30 p.m. accident, police said.The accident occurred just south of Braeburn Road in Columbia, near a construction site in which Jackson and Means were doing contracted work.

ROCKVILLE -- A Takoma Park teen-ager was found guilty yesterday on three counts of automobile manslaughter in an accident last July that killed his best friend, a classmate and a father of three. Michael Schoenfeld, 17, showed no emotion as Montgomery District Judge Eric Johnson announced the verdict. Family members and friends of the victims and Schoenfeld filled every seat, stood shoulder to shoulder and sat cross-legged on the floor of the tiny courtroom. As the judge read his opinion, looks of relief spread across the faces of each victim's family, their shoulders sagged as they exhaled, and then they turned and hugged.

A mock disaster exercise at the Carroll County Regional Airport won high marks for efficient and effective responses to multiple perilous incidents. But the drill made apparent communication gaps among the county's police, fire and emergency services agencies. "People arrived and reacted as their training dictated," said Maj. Thomas H. Long, chief of the Field Services Bureau for the Carroll County Sheriff's Department. "But the one point of weakness was the lack of communication between agencies."

The two challengers in Howard County's Circuit Court judicial race, whose roadside sign-waving has set new standards of aggressiveness for such campaigns, may have caused a minor fender-bender just outside Columbia -- and then quickly left the scene.The incident has touched off a new feud in the bitter county judges' race just as the four candidates are gearing up for a final face-off in the fall election.The drivers of the cars involved in the Sept. 5 accident vary in the blame they assign to the two sign-waving candidates, District Judge Lenore R. Gelfman and attorney Jonathan Scott Smith.