Truck Driver

Edward Davis, a retired truck driver and caterer, died Feb. 16 of a heart attack at his West Baltimore home. He was 81. Mr. Davis, who was born and raised in Baltimore, was a 1946 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. He worked as a truck driver for many years for Davidson Transfer. He retired in 1983 and had been an active member of Teamsters Local 557. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. Davis owned and operated a Baltimore catering firm. Mr. Davis, who enjoyed cooking, liked entertaining family and friends at backyard cookouts.

Elvira Elizabeth "Bette" Kennedy, a World War II veteran who with her husband co-founded Dawn's Office Supply, died Friday of a heart attack at Emeritus of Towson on North Charles Street. The longtime Mount Washington resident was 89. The daughter of a barnstormer and truck driver and an educator, Elvira Elizabeth Lance was born and raised in Oneonta, N.Y., where she graduated in 1942 from Oneonta High School. She enlisted in the Navy in 1943, and was working as a pharmacist's mate at a naval hospital in Northern California when she met her future husband, Thomas J. Kennedy Jr., a Marine who was recuperating after losing his sight when he was blinded by a Japanese booby trap at Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.

Maryland State Police have arrested a tractor-trailer driver for pointing a fake gun at a dump truck driver Friday on the Baltimore Beltway. Troopers arrested the driver, Johnathan Maniah Adams, of Fort Worth, Texas. Adams was being held at the Baltimore County jail. - Associated Press

Two people were killed on Route 75 in Frederick on Monday afternoon when a tractor trailer loaded with oranges overturned and collided with the pickup truck they were riding in, according to Maryland State Police. Three people were also injured, one of them critically. The deceased victims are identified as Hector N.C. Henriquez, 46, of Gaithersburg, Md., and Jose R. Diaz, 54, of Derwood, Md. Henriquez was the driver of a Ford F-450 truck. Diaz was a passenger in that truck and was sitting in the left rear seat.

Relatives of a truck driver killed in an August 2008 Bay Bridge crash are suing the state of Maryland as well as a teenage driver. The $7 million suit filed in June originally named the driver whose car crossed the center line before the crash that killed 57-year-old John Short of Willards. Short died after his tractor trailer crashed over the side of the bridge and into the bay. The suit was amended Friday to add the state and the state transportation authority, claiming bridge barriers could have been maintained better to prevent the truck from going into the bay. The suit also claims two-way traffic on the bridge at the time of the crash is inherently dangerous and has led to numerous other fatalities.

A Pennsylvania truck driver died Monday afternoon after his vehicle jumped a curb and struck several trees on Northern Parkway west of Greenspring Avenue, a Baltimore Police spokesman said. Charles Bergholtz, 63, of Bensalem, Pa. was pronounced dead at 4:22 p.m. at Sinai Hospital, said the spokesman, Agent Donny Moses. Witnesses said Bergholtz had been driving a Volvo truck eastbound in the 2600 block of Northern Parkway when the vehicle began swerving and ultimately drove over a curb, striking several trees in a wooded area before it came to a stop, Moses said.

Donald E. Davis Sr., a retired truck driver and a former Baltimore resident, died May 31 of a stroke at a medical center in Cookeville, Tenn. He was 80. Born and raised on Nanticoke Street in Pigtown, Mr. Davis graduated in 1949 from Southern High School. In 1951, he joined the Navy, where he served aboard the dock landing ship USS Marcos as a seaman until being discharged in 1955. Mr. Davis worked as a truck driver for Wilkins Coffee in Baltimore from 1955 until the company's closing in 1970.

Investigators looking into a light rail accident in Cockeysville said Wednesday that they expect to file charges against the driver of a tractor-trailer that crossed the train's path. The truck driver was identified by police as Mark Szurek, 53, who was behind the wheel of a 2007 Volvo cab pulling a Wabash trailer filled with plastic bottles when the crash occurred Tuesday morning. Szurek was driving for John W. Ritter Trucking Inc., based in Laurel. A preliminary investigation showed that Szurek drove into the path of the light rail train at a crossing that had a traffic signal, according to a Baltimore County police spokesman, Cpl. Michael Hill.

Investigators looking into a light-rail accident in Cockeysville released the names Wednesday of the three drivers involved, and said charges were pending against the operator of the tractor-trailer that crossed the train's path. The truck driver in Tuesday morning's crash was identified as Mark Szurek, 53, who was behind the wheel of a 2007 Volvo cab pulling a Wabash trailer filled with plastic bottles. Szurek was driving for John W. Ritter Trucking Inc., based in Laurel. A preliminary investigation showed that Szurek drove into the path of the light-rail train at a signaled crossing, according to a Baltimore County police spokesman, Cpl. Michael Hill.

A moving company truck driver, who got into an altercation while on the job then fled police, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Wednesday for ramming his company truck into several cars on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, injuring the occupants, including a 10-year-old girl. Michael A. Jasper, 40, of Hanover, was on a job in New Carrollton on March 31, 2010, prosecutors said, when he was “involved in an assault.” He jumped into the moving truck and took off, with Prince George's County Police in pursuit.

A deer darting across I-83 near Old York Road early Thursday caused a chain reaction crash that involved three tractor-trailers and halted traffic on the highway throughout the morning rush hour. All lanes were reopened by 9 a.m., according to Maryland State Police. The driver of a northbound tractor-trailer swerved to avoid the deer at about 3:30 a.m. He lost control of the semi rig, destroyed the guardrail and went through the median into the southbound lanes. There, he hit another tractor-trailer head-on.

Harry Tsakalos, who put the "H" in H&S Bakery and helped build the company he co-founded into a baking empire that's the largest supplier of McDonald's buns, died Thursday at his Harbor East residence. Family members said he had had Alzheimer's disease for several years. He was 93. Family and friends recalled Mr. Tsakalos on Friday as a pillar in the Greek community. The son of immigrants, he loved his work and was noted for his warmth, simplicity and generosity. "He was more comfortable with a broom in his hand than he was with meeting the politicians," said a grandson, Michael Tsakalos of Hunt Valley.

Port Deposit hopes to beef up traffic enforcement following Friday night's fatal crash and explosion of a loaded gasoline tanker truck. Repairs to utilities and other cleanup activities were largely wrapped up by Tuesday in the town after a tractor trailer crashed and became engulfed by fire Friday night, killing the truck driver, a Maryland man , Maryland State Police said. Mayor Wayne Tome said Monday he would be meeting with the Cecil County Sheriff's Office soon to help better enforce the restriction on trucks over five tons from entering the town.

There was a time before the three heart attacks, before he was effectively paralyzed in the lower half of his left leg, when Army Spc. Stephen Ramsey wouldn't do much on his Georgia farm other than pick cotton and peanuts, and hunt. Actually, he can still remember the first time he went hunting. He watched a commercial on television, turned to his grandfather and told him he wanted to hunt deer. The next day, the two sat silently in the deer stand and, in the glow of the sunrise, they watched turkeys and other small animals move past them until, finally, Ramsey spotted a deer.

A moving company truck driver, who got into an altercation while on the job then fled police, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Wednesday for ramming his company truck into several cars on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, injuring the occupants, including a 10-year-old girl. Michael A. Jasper, 40, of Hanover, was on a job in New Carrollton on March 31, 2010, prosecutors said, when he was “involved in an assault.” He jumped into the moving truck and took off, with Prince George's County Police in pursuit.

Three people were killed Friday after a car lost control on a curve and crashed into a milk truck in Phoenix, Baltimore County police said. A Volkswagen Jetta was traveling northbound on Jarrettsville Pike when it crossed the center line into the path of the truck, police said. The Jetta overturned on its left side. The truck struck a tree and remained upright, but its tanker turned on its left side, police said. The crash occurred at 6:09 a.m. in the 12600 block of Jarrettsville Pike, just north of the intersection with Dulaney Valley Road.

100 Years Ago Trusted home "Mrs. Frances Fogarty of N. Calvert St. Baltimore, visited her grandmother Mrs. John Cole during the past week. Mrs. Charles G. Summers Sr. have closed their summer home, "Trusty Friend Farms" and are occupying their apartments at Bristol, Eutaw Place, Baltimore. " 75 Years Ago Falling chivalry A national news section brief in the Times : "A brave truck driver, name unknown, saw a lady with a difficult name, Mrs. Anastasia Adeuszkuus, hanging from the ledge of a 2nd story in Jersey City.

A New York woman died Monday, when the van she was driving sideswiped a trash truck and struck a tree in the Severn area of Anne Arundel County. Shirley Walker-Lloyd, 76, of West Islip, was driving north at 11:07 a.m. on Quarterfield Road near Myers Drive, when her van began swerving. She crossed the center line, hit the trash truck, swerved back to the north lane and ultimately drove off the road and struck a tree, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. She was not wearing a seatbelt, police said.

Joseph F. Radomsky Jr., a retired truck driver and a sports fan, died Sunday of cancer at Franklin Woods Center in White Marsh. The Essex resident was 72. Mr. Radomsky was born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown. He attended city public schools and briefly served in the Navy in the mid-1950s. A longtime local truck driver, Mr. Radomsky worked for Anchor Trucking and later USF Red Star until his 2001 retirement. He was an active member of Teamsters Local No. 557. He was a Ravens and Orioles fan and had been a former longtime member of the Little Beavers Club, a Highlandtown social club.