Maryland State Police say serious truck accident was no accident

A criminal investigation has resulted from a Baltimore, Maryland, multi-vehicle crash in what police are stating was the result of an incidence of road rage. The truck accident happened on southbound Route 295 earlier this month when a 25-year-old driver in a white pick-up truck in the second lane of the highway began driving out of his designated lane and came close to colliding with a passenger vehicle in the first lane.

The driver in that vehicle blasted his horn to alert the truck driver that he was crossing into his lane and that’s when the truck driver deliberately hit the passenger side of the vehicle in retaliation, according to police. The truck driver then stopped his vehicle in the first lane forcing traffic to stop, including the driver of the struck vehicle who stopped behind the pick-up truck.

Both the driver of the truck and his 22-year-old passenger then got out of their vehicle and approached the 61-year-old driver of the passenger vehicle and began pounding on the car with their fists and damaging its door panels with their knees. Two people in a second passenger vehicle stopped to assist the 61-year-old man and talked the other two men into stopping their attack and get back in their truck. The first driver called police after the two men in the second vehicle left the scene.

The two men in the truck then proceeded to catch up to the two men in the second passenger vehicle and intentionally rear-ended their vehicle, changed lanes and then side-swiped the vehicle on its passenger side and forced the vehicle off the road. The truck driver then lost control of his truck causing it to roll over several times. A third vehicle was in the path of the overturning truck and was unable to avoid colliding with it.

In all, three people were injured and sent to local hospitals for treatment of undisclosed injuries. The truck driver and his passenger are facing multiple criminal charges including 1^st and 2^nd degree assault, three counts of reckless endangerment, DUI and MDOP in addition to multiple traffic violations and malicious destruction of property.

It would appear that the victims in this incident could have a rather air-tight personal injury claim against the driver of the pick-up truck, who, along with his passenger was transported to the Baltimore Shock Trauma center for treatment of non life-threatening injuries.

Source: ABC 2 News, “Police say serious 295 crash is no accident,” June 9, 2012