Truck Driver

A Gaithersburg truck driver who authorities say was in the country illegally was arraigned this week outside of Pittsburgh on charges of vehicular manslaughter, an incident that advocates of tighter restrictions on Maryland's driver licenses said reinforces a troubling trend. Since November, at least three people have been killed by illegal immigrants who were issued driver's licenses in Maryland, authorities say. For the fifth year in a row, lawmakers are set to debate whether the state should continue to issue driver's licenses to those who are in the country illegally.

Fred D. Harris, a retired truck driver who was an active member of New Mount Hebron Baptist Church, died Saturday of an aneurysm at St. Agnes Hospital. The longtime Edmondson Village resident was 72. The son of farmers, Mr. Harris was born and raised in Saxe, Va. In 1960, he came to Baltimore and became a truck driver for Butler Paper Co. He retired in 2000. At his West Baltimore church, Mr. Harris was an usher, had been chairman of the deacon board and was a former Sunday school superintendent.

A fully loaded cement truck, its brakes apparently malfunctioning, careened down a North Baltimore hill yesterday afternoon and triggered a chain-reaction collision before it landed on top of a minivan and pinned the driver inside for more than two hours.Although the accident on West Northern Parkway involved six cars and a Mass Transit Administration bus with about 20 passengers aboard, police said only the trapped driver of the minivan was injured. Traffic on roads around Northern Parkway and Falls Road was snarled for hours.

A Canadian truck driver whose improperly loaded rig knocked down a Beltway footbridge will not face criminal charges, prosecutors said yesterday -- angering the family of the man killed in the collapse."

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.

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.

A tractor-trailer owned by a United States' spy agency jackknifed on Interstate 95 yesterday morning, shutting down the highway for a second time within four hours and causing rush-hour havoc for commuters.Three accidents on a four-mile stretch of the highway between Elkridge and Baltimore killed a Reisterstown man and injured several others yesterday morning.Snow, rain and aggressive driving were blamed for the crashes.Police said a passenger car cut off a truck owned by the CIA about 9 a.m., and an unrelated crash that occurred almost simultaneously near the jackknifed truck injured two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

A 15-year-old girl was in critical condition at Washington Hospital Center yesterday, after police said she was struck by a red pickup truck in a hit-and-run accident in Annapolis.Witnesses told police the truck driver was apparently trying to buy drugs in the 1900 block of Copeland St. about 1: 30 a.m. when residents told the man to leave and threw bottles and rocks at the truck, shattering the back window.The man sped off and hit several parked cars before striking the teen-ager, Annapolis police said.

A teen-ager died of injuries he suffered yesterday when he lost control of the car he was driving on Perring Parkway and crashed into the back of a truck that was stopped at a traffic signal, Baltimore County police said.Police said Lance Edward Boblitz, 17, of the 300 block of Montrose Ave. in Essex was driving a 1990 Honda Civic south on Perring Parkway about 4 p.m. when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the back of a 1985 Ford 350 truck.The car went under the truck, pushing it several feet into the intersection, police said.

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.

As Baltimore police continued to search Wednesday for the driver of a truck that struck and killed a bicyclist this month at a downtown intersection, an attorney representing the victim's family said a surveillance video shows that the vehicle "just abruptly took a right without a turn signal," causing the collision. About 11:40 a.m. Aug. 4, John R. "Jack" Yates, 67, of Charles Village was riding south on Maryland Avenue when he got tangled in the rear wheels of the truck at West Lafayette Avenue.

James S. Tomalski, a retired fuel oil company truck driver and World War II veteran, died of heart failure Friday at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Fallston resident was 81. Mr. Tomalski was born in Baltimore and raised on South Decker Avenue in Canton. He attended Mount St. Joseph High School. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces during the waning days of World War II and served as an airplane mechanic in occupied Japan until being discharged. Mr. Tomalski drove a fuel truck delivering home heating oil and gasoline for Cities Service and later Citgo for 44 years before retiring in the late 1980s.

John Robert Short Sr., a Wicomico County truck driver, was killed early Sunday when the truck he was driving was involved in an accident on the eastbound span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that sent it plunging into the bay. Mr. Short, who died at the scene, was 57. Mr. Short was born in Short Gap, Va., and was raised there until moving to North East when he was a teenager. He attended North East High School and later earned his General Educational Development certificate. He served in the Navy as a machinery repairman assigned to engine rooms of destroyers from 1966 to 1970.

The driver of a tractor-trailer was killed early yesterday in a three-vehicle crash that sent the 18-wheeler plunging into the Chesapeake Bay - the first time that a vehicle has plummeted from the bridge in its 56-year history, according to current and former officials of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. The early morning crash left a gaping hole in the wall of the bridge, forced the all-day closure of the eastbound span and created a virtual parking lot for miles on both sides of U.S. 50 leading to the westbound span.

Todd Nordeen, a truck driver, died in an automobile accident April 29 in Sarasota, Fla., where he had lived for two years. The former Ellicott City resident was 36. Born in Silver Spring, he moved to Ellicott City as a child and was a 1989 graduate of Mount Hebron High School. He became a truck driver and worked for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and for a Middle Eastern restaurant food supplier. He moved to Florida in 2004 and worked for Carmax and a swimming pool supply firm. "He was a generous, kind, and caring person who was known for always helping anyone who was in need," said his brother, Peter Nordeen of De Pere, Wis. Mr. Nordeen enjoyed playing pickup basketball and participating in softball leagues.

A leading provider of construction cement was ordered yesterday to pay $1.7 million in damages to a Baltimore concrete firm after the cement company was accused of selling a substandard product later used in a college dormitory at the Johns Hopkins University. Lawyers for the now-defunct concrete company, Metro Ready Mix Inc., said yesterday's jury verdict raised lingering questions about the practices of Essroc Cement Corp. and the structural soundness of highways, bridges and parking garages that have used its cement - a key ingredient in construction-grade concrete.

Calvin "Billy" Scott, a retired truck driver and World War II veteran, died of cancer Wednesday at a hospice in Phoenix, Ariz. The former Randallstown resident was 81. Mr. Scott was born in Baltimore and raised on Falls Road in the original Cross Keys neighborhood that was named after an 18th-century inn that stood on what was then the Falls Road Turnpike. He was a sixth-generation member of the Scott family, which settled in Maryland in 1765 and later moved to Bare Hills. The prominent family later founded St. John's Church in Ruxton in 1833.

A Cecil County motorcyclist died last night at Maryland Shock Trauma Center of injuries sustained after he collided with a pickup truck at an intersection in Havre de Grace, said state police at the Bel Air barracks. Police said David John Peters, 46, of the 500 block of New Bridge Road in Rising Sun was operating a 1999 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic motorcycle east on Route 155 about 6 p.m. when he was struck by a 2005 Ford F-250 pickup truck driven by Eris Alexi Santelizvanegas, 32, of Havre de Grace, who failed to grant the right of way to the motorcycle when he attempted to turn left onto Route 155, police said.

Baltimore housing officials condemned a rowhouse in the Curtis Bay neighborhood yesterday after a tanker truck loaded with fuel crashed into it, leaving three families homeless. A building inspector met with the property owner hours after the 1 a.m. accident, and fire and police officials said damage was severe enough that the building at Pennington Avenue and Locust Street - which housed a closed auto repair shop and three upstairs apartments - might have to be torn down. "I was sleeping, and the next thing I know there was furniture on top of me," William Grimes, 51, said as he stood near the wreckage of the building where he had lived for 10 years.

To hear Chuck Gamber tell it, he's not just creating elaborate scenes and symbols on trucks. He's performing a public service. "If a guy's got...an ugly truck, if you can put some art work on it and make it pretty, now people will compliment him, and he'll drive better and he'll be happy with what he's doing," said Gamber, sitting on a stool in his workshop next to a 38-foot antique tanker truck in need of lettering. Gamber is the owner of Jack of Arts, a company that specializes in painting custom images on vehicles.