Maryland driver who fatally plows into Beltway workers

The driver of an Acura, who fatally struck six construction workers on a stretch of highway outside Baltimore, collided with another vehicle moments before her car plowed into the laborers, investigators said Thursday.

The crash team investigators believe that the Acura caused it to lose control and subsequently travel through the barrier opening into the work zone and overturned, state police said.

The Maryland State Police released the names of the driver and the six victims of Wednesday's crash on Interstate 695, known as the Baltimore Beltway.

The victims were Maryland residents and contractual workers, police said.

Two of them, Mahlon Simmons II, 52, and Mahlon Simmons III, 31, were father and son, police said. Both lived in the Union Bridge.

Rolando Ruiz, 46, of Laurel, Carlos Orlando Villatoro Escobar, 43, of Frederick, Jose Armando Escobar, 52, of Frederick, and Sybil Lee Dimaggio, 46, of Glen Burnie, were also killed.

He died at the home of Jose Armando Escobar, a grieving woman who answered the phone, and said he had died. She then hung up.

The driver of the Acura, 54-year-old Lisa Adrienne Lea, of Randallstown, Marlyand, was being treated at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, police said.

They did not provide Lea's condition, but they said she was alone in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

The state police said in a statement that there were no charges pending the outcome of the investigation and consultation with the Baltimore County State Attorney.

Lea was attempting to change lands at 12: 40 p.m. Wednesday when she struck the front corner panel on the passenger side of a Volkswagen and cared into a work zone between the Jersey barriers and struck the workers before flipping over, police said.

In the aftermath, helicopter footage showed the Acura upside down surrounded by broken construction materials and other debris. All of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The Volkswagen was driven by 20-year-old Melachi Brown, who was not injured, police said. He pulled over north of the crash site on I- 695, where his vehicle became disabled, police said.

Multiple agencies are investigating with the Maryland State Police Crash Team, including the Maryland Department of Transportation Occupational Safety Office and the National Transportation Safety Board.

When the investigation is complete, the findings will be submitted to the Baltimore County State Attorney's Office for review.