Nov 11, 2008 7:57 am US/Eastern
Same Man Causes 2 Harford Co. Crashes In 1 Day
BEL AIR, Md. (WJZ) ―
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Officials have confirmed the man involved in the Harford County fatal crash on Friday, Nov. 7 had been involved in another crash less than two hours before.
CBS
There's stunning new information on the man police say was behind the wheel of a Jeep involved in a deadly crash on the Bel Air bypass Friday.
Mary Bubala reports the suspect was involved in another car crash just hours before the fatal accident.
Police are looking into charges against Christopher Lentz, 37, who was involved in two different accidents over a two-hour span that resulted from him crossing the center line.
Early Friday afternoon, Maryland State Police charged Lentz of the 5600-block of Bell Gwynn Road in Glen Arm, with failure to drive right of center, failure to immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of an accident, failure of driver involved in the accident to give insurance policy information and failure to control speed to avoid a collision.
"At this point, Christopher Lentz has been charged on the first crash with four violations," said Elena Russo, Maryland State Police.
The charges resulted from a crash that Bel Air troopers responded to at around 3:30 p.m.
The preliminary investigation reveals that Lentz was operating a 1999 Chevrolet Express van traveling northbound on Route 152, north of Greenspring Avenue in Joppa.
Lentz reportedly crossed over the center line and sideswiped a 2003 Ford van traveling southbound.
The operator of the Ford van, Karen Williams, 44, of the 1200-block of Old Mountain Road North in Joppa was transporting seven children between the ages of 3 and 16. Williams was not injured.
The seven passengers were transported by ground to Upper Chesapeake Hospital by ambulance for precautionary reasons.
State troopers located Lentz in his company vehicle about one-half mile north of the scene. His vehicle had been disabled.
Two hours later, police say his 2004 Jeep Cherokee also crossed the center line striking another vehicle head on.
The second accident happened approximately 5:00 p.m. that same evening. Bel Air officials responded to a multi-vehicle crash on the Route 1 bypass north of Route 24 in Harford County.
Police say Lentz lost control of his Jeep and crashed head-on into a minivan.
They confirmed the Brady family of Perry Hall was trapped inside that minivan.
Two people were killed in that crash including Katherine S. Brady, 31, and Wilson Brady, 8. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the minivan was Stephen Brady, 32, and the second child involved was Ian Brady, 2.
Stephen was flown to Shock Trauma for treatment while Ian was flown to Johns Hopkins for care.
Charges are pending on the second crash, and police want to know if drugs were involved.
Lentz remained at Shock Trauma in fair condition Monday afternoon. When he was brought to the trauma center immediately after the accident, his blood was screened for intoxicants.
Locals know the road as dangerous. Though there were no fatal accidents in 2006, in 2007 there were two. Friday's accident makes it the first fatality on the road for 2008.
The county sheriff knows the stretch well. In 2007, his nephew was one of those who died on the bypass in a head-on crash.
"It does appear to be the structure of the roadway, particularly since we've had two fatalities in the last year. There's some credibility that maybe there could be a problem with the way the road is engineered. But I'm not a traffic engineer. I really don't know. I just have some concerns when I hear about, in the period of a year, two fatalities that occurred in the same area," said Jessie Bane, Harford County Sheriff.
The State Highway Administration defends the highway saying that there are good sight lines and few crashes, and that they've not received any requests for a safety study on the roadway. Upon hearing that, Sheriff Bane said he'll request one.
A fund has been set up for the family. Send donations to:
Katie and Wil Brady Memorial/Scholarship Fund
P.O. Box 542 Chase, Maryland 21027
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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