Dump Truck

A West Friendship woman was killed yesterday morning after she drove through a red light at a western Howard County intersection and was struck by a dump truck, police said.About 6: 15 a.m., Gwendolyn Pinnix, 37, of the 2000 block of Wynfield Road, was driving her Jeep Wrangler west on Route 144 when she ran the red light at Route 32, police said.Pinnix was hit by the dump truck traveling north on Route 32, police said.Pinnix was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she was pronounced dead.

A Maryland state trooper and a truck driver were injured yesterday afternoon when the trooper's stopped patrol car was hit from behind by a dump truck on Interstate 695 south of Liberty Road, shutting down a stretch of the Beltway.Trooper Michael R. Tagliaferri, who is assigned to the Golden Ring barracks, received neck and back injuries and was treated at and released from Maryland Shock Trauma Center.The truck driver, identified by police as Nathen Michael Graybill, 35, of the 22200 block of Rock Forge Road in Hagerstown, also was taken to Shock Trauma and was treated and released.

Three women were killed in two separate car accidents yesterday, State Police reported.In the first accident, two Calvert County women were fatally injured when their Chevrolet Cavalier swerved into the path of an oncoming dump truck about 10 a.m. on Route 765 in Prince Frederick, according to police.The deceased were identified as Elizabeth L. Frazer, 48, of Chesapeake Beach, and Barbara Gaetano, also 48, of Huntingtown.The driver of the dump truck, DeSale Dade, was treated for minor injuries and released from Calvert Memorial Hospital, police said.

A Laurel man was killed yesterday after he pulled his car onto Whiskey Bottom Road and into the path of a 44,000-pound Mack garbage truck, county police said.Carlet A. Ako, 39, of the 400 block of Kokomo Court was killed instantly.Police said Ako was headed north on Brock Bridge Road shortly before 10 a.m. when he either failed to stop at a stop sign at Whiskey Bottom Road or had just pulled into the intersection after stopping.Ronald Luther Weitkamp Jr., 26, a driver for York Waste Disposal, was going east on Whiskey Bottom Road.

The son of Glen Burnie's "Bernadette the MVA Lady," who was killed when a county dump truck ran over her in 1995, is suing Anne Arundel County and the truck driver for $2 million.Edna Belle Hutchinson, 53, was a familiar face at the Motor Vehicle Administration office in Glen Burnie, where she went daily to ask for cigarettes and quarters.Her death on May 30, 1995, as she was crossing a gas station parking lot upset MVA employees, some of whom had pitched in to buy her clothing, food and cigarettes at Christmas.

Two accidents -- both involving dump trucks -- snarled traffic for hours yesterday on Interstates 95 and 695, and sent four people to area hospitals, including one man who remained in critical condition last night.The collision of a dump truck and a tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 about a mile north of Route 24 in Harford County caused a five-mile backup on the southbound lanes starting about 1: 10 p.m. and detoured traffic to local roads in Aberdeen and Bel Air.State police said Irvin Eugene Kern, 62, of Street was driving a 1986 dump truck loaded with sand south when the truck swerved into the path of a tractor-trailer being driven by 39-year-old David William Huth of Pasadena.

Maryland State Police, searching for the cause of a fatal fuel tanker crash that closed the Beltway, are investigating the driver's actions and maintenance records of the truck's owner, an Edgewater company fined in recent years for safety violations.Federal Highway Administration records show that Hardesty and Son Inc. received "unsatisfactory" safety ratings in 1993 and 1995.Authorities said, though, that a preliminary review indicates no maintenance or safety problems contributed to Monday night's crash.

On the field: The calendar said it wasn't Mike Mussina's time. He allowed three home runs in five innings. It was the most he had allowed since surrendering four to the Mariners in six innings last May 19.In the dugout: Manager Davey Johnson sat Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro and B. J. Surhoff against Mariners left-hander Randy Johnson. Alomar is a career .216 hitter (8-for-37) against Johnson, Palmeiro .048 (1-for-21) and Surhoff .167 (2-for-12).In the clubhouse: "Hey, I didn't fall off the dump truck."

A fire that caused $15,000 damage to a home on Dusty Lane in Lineboro yesterday morning was attributed to a hair roller overheating, authorities said.Sharon Berdeal Hill discovered the fire when her smoke detector activated about 8: 30 a.m. She tried to put out the fire with a towel and suffered a minor wrist burn.Firefighters from Lineboro, Hampstead, Manchester and York County, Pa., contained the blaze, which did an estimated $5,000 in damage to the home's contents and $10,000 to the house.