Trailer

ISSUE: The driver of a Lincoln Navigator whose trailer came loose on the Bay Bridge in May was "solely at fault" for the deadly multivehicle crash that resulted, according to a police investigation, but prosecutors have decided that they have no grounds for charging him with any traffic offenses. Three Eastern Shore men died in the seven-vehicle collision May 10, which closed the westbound span of the bridge well into the night and backed up traffic for miles. A report released last week by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police concluded that there was no evidence that the driver of the Navigator, Stephen A. Burt of Rockville, had used a safety hitch pin to secure the single-axle trailer to his vehicle.

Two-way traffic on the westbound span of the Bay Bridge does not appear to have been a factor in causing the seven-vehicle crash that killed three Eastern Shore residents Thursday, a top police official said yesterday. Marcus L. Brown, chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, said at a news conference yesterday that it might take two months to complete the investigation of the devastating chain-reaction accident -- set off when a trailer came unhitched from the sport utility vehicle that was pulling it. Yesterday, police identified the those killed in the crash as Randall R. Orff, 47, and his son, Jonathan R. Orff, 19, both of Millington in Kent County, and James H. Ingle, 44, of Preston in Caroline County.

A woman was critically injured yesterday when her car was "sandwiched" between two tractor-trailers on Interstate 695 near Catonsville, the first in a series of accidents that left police scrambling to keep traffic moving on the interstate highways near the city, authorities said.One truck driver was charged with a traffic violation in the accident, which closed both sides of the Beltway for a time and left the woman's car so mangled that investigators could not be sure of the model."The only thing that was left was the passenger area," said Tfc. Tracy Hart, of the Maryland State Police Golden Ring barracks.

A tractor-trailer, traveling south on Interstate 95 to Baltimore City, jackknifed yesterday morning north of the Beltway near White Marsh, spilling hydrochloric acid and prompting heavy traffic delays for several hours, state police said.Witnesses told police that a Chevrolet Celebrity was stopped in the middle lane of the interstate about 7: 30 a.m. when it was struck from behind by a Dodge pickup truck and sent spinning into the far left lane. The tractor-trailer, carrying several 5-gallon containers of the highly corrosive acid, collided with the car, said Trooper Joseph Comer of the JFK Highway barracks.

A trailer that escaped from a Howard County Parks and Recreation truck after chains snapped crashed into a northbound vehicle on U.S. 29 yesterday morning causing a traffic backup for about three hours.John Peach, 40, of the 3400 block of Church Road in Ellicott City was driving south on U.S. 29 between Routes 108 and 175 when the 14-foot trailer came loose.The trailer was carrying a garden tractor used to mow fields and baseball parks."He felt the trailer moving, [and] it appears he tried to slow down," said Sgt. A. J. Bellido de Luna, who supervises the department's traffic enforcement section.

A Columbia man was killed Friday night when the car he was driving collided with a tractor-trailer on U.S. 1 in Jessup, Howard County police said yesterday.The accident occurred at 6: 48 p.m., when a 1999 Kenworth truck pulling a flatbed trailer south on U.S. 1 started turning left on Assateague Avenue, police said.A northbound Plymouth Horizon struck the right front of the turning truck, according to the police department's Traffic Enforcement Section.The driver of the Plymouth, identified by police as Van G. Robinson Jr., 41, of Columbia, died at the scene.

Howard County police reported 11 vehicle thefts during the weekend. Between 6 p.m. Thursday and 3 a.m. yesterday, seven cars were stolen in Columbia, three in Elkridge and a 48-foot trailer was taken from a Savage parking lot.Police took two juveniles into custody after recovering a 1998 Jeep Cherokee that was stolen early yesterday from the 5400 block of Hildebrand Court in the Village of Harper's Choice.Pub Date: 5/25/99

A man was critically injured yesterday when a car he was driving crashed into two tractor-trailers during the evening's rush-hour on northbound Interstate 95 in northern Baltimore County, causing a three-mile traffic jam, state police said.Tsung-Pin Chen, 54, of Phoenix, was in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, a nursing supervisor said last night.Sgt. Boyd Trantham said Chen was driving a Toyota Camry that rear-ended a tractor-trailer in the right lane just south of Interstate 695, careered across two lanes, hit the side of another truck and became wedged underneath.

FireMount Airy: Firefighters from Mount Airy and Lisbon, Howard County, responded at 11: 44 p.m. Saturday to a trailer fire in the 7800 block of East Hill Drive. Units were out 30 minutes.

An unidentified woman was killed last night when the car she was driving north on Interstate 83 slammed into a tractor-trailer and overturned about a mile south of Ruxton Road.Maryland State Police said the woman lost control of her vehicle about 9: 30 p.m. Police said no passengers were in the car.It was not known whether anyone in the tractor-trailer was injured. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.The accident closed northbound I-83 between Northern Parkway and Ruxton Road for several hours and backed up traffic for about two miles.

As Harper's Choice Middle School celebrated students' attendance at the end of the school year, a few sixth-graders helped Howard County police launch a new program to keep youths occupied and out of trouble during summer vacation. Starting June 29, a mobile recreation center will travel to five areas in Howard County, offering wholesome diversions for middle school children. The Community Athletic Program consists of a mobile trailer, stocked with sports gear, video game equipment and board games.

Pasadena girl, 10, dies in trailer accident 2 A 10-year-old Anne Arundel County girl died yesterday, shortly after being run over by a trailer pulled by a dump truck operated by her father. Michael Foy of the 800 block of Swift Road in Pasadena was driving a dump truck and pulling a trailer on his property after 2 p.m. when his daughter ran between the vehicles and was run over by the trailer's front wheels, said Sgt. John Gilmer, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

* Frustrated about the difficulty of keeping their hands warm while texting, two British designers devised the Etre Touchy gloves - with only the tips of the thumb and index finger exposed. They're billed as "part normal pair of gloves, part fingerless pair of gloves," which cover your middle, ring and little fingers completely. They're available for about $22.50 at etretouchy.com. * Kidthing.com, a learning and entertainment platform for children ages 3-11, is another reminder that kids are growing up in a world much different from their parents'.

Sunshine Royston chose Sept. 20, the day of her late father's birthday, as the day of her wedding. She was a year old when Chet Royston died in a motorcycle accident in Baltimore. Now the relatives who had helped arrange her wedding are preparing for her funeral. Royston and six of her friends had arranged to use a stretch limousine for her bachelorette party, which included time at the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor, said her maternal grandfather, Fred Thiess. About 4:30 a.m. yesterday, a tractor-trailer collided with the limousine in the 4000 block of E. Monument St., killing Royston.

State transportation officials declared the Chesapeake Bay Bridge safe one day after a fatal crash that sent a tractor-trailer over a barrier, a dramatic accident that was described as an "anomaly" caused by speed and the size of the vehicle. But a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said last night that federal investigators were at the scene for much of yesterday, and are looking into any safety issues that might need to be fixed, including traffic flow and bridge design.

A teenager died yesterday afternoon at a hospital shortly after he was struck by a tractor-trailer while riding a dirt bike on a street in the Mount Winans community in Southwest Baltimore, authorities said. About noon, the victim, between 16 and 19 years old, was riding the bike in the 2300 block of Hollins Ferry Road when he was struck by an 18-wheeler. The victim, whose name was not released, was not wearing a helmet and the rig ran over his head, authorities said. The youth was taken by a city Fire Department ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

A man was killed last night near East Monument Street and Pulaski Highway when his car struck the side of a tractor-trailer hauling 2 tons of steel beams, police said. Shawn Junie Braxton, 36, of the 3100 block of E. Baltimore St. was driving a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu west in the 5000 block of E. Monument St. about 7 p.m. when he crashed into the tractor-trailer owned by Durrett Sheppard Steel Co., which was leaving the company's parking lot, said Officer Richard McCarthy, a traffic investigator.

A motorist was killed and a state trooper was injured yesterday afternoon when a car crashed into a tractor-trailer that the trooper was inspecting on the shoulder of Interstate 95 near Route 32 in Savage. Shortly before 3 p.m., Tfc. Emmett M. Adams, 34, pulled over a southbound tractor-trailer for an inspection, said Sgt. Arthur Betts, a state police spokesman. Betts said the 18-wheeler was safely parked on the shoulder and the trooper was standing on the tractor's step talking to the driver, Wilburn R. Seidel, 40, of Shannon, N.C., when a 1995 Toyota Corolla, driven by Edwin H. Preston, 35, of the 13200 block of Brackley Road in Silver Spring, crashed into the back of the rig. Betts said the trooper was knocked to the ground and Preston suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

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NEW ORLEANS -- Inside trailer No. 27 here at the A.L. Davis Playground, where the government set up a camp last year for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Tracy Bernard's meager possessions are all packed up, even though she has nowhere to go. About a month ago, workers for the Federal Emergency Management Agency swept through her trailer park, a bleak tableau of housing of the last resort, taping eviction notices on the flimsy doors. Thousands of other trailer residents across Louisiana were informed by FEMA last week that they would also be evicted in the next six months.