One is listed in critical condition.
Middletown, Md (KM) Three Middletown High School students were injured Wednesday morning in a vehicle crash.
Sgt. Paul Colantuno with the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office says one of the students was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee along Hollow Road north of Layla Drive. “The driver was ejected during the crash,” he says. “It was coming around the curve just prior to Layla Drive, crossed over the center line, and then went off the shoulder of the opposing lane. At which point, it struck a culvert and the vehicle overturned. And that’s when the driver was ejected.”
“It was a two, maybe about a two-and-half-foot drop off from the paved asphalt portion of the roadway,” he says. “So when the vehicle left that part of the travel portion of the road, the left side tires, or the driver’s side tires of the vehicle dropped down into the embankment and caused the vehicle to roll over and then flip.”
The driver was taken by the State Police helicopter to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore where he’s listed in critical condition, according to Sgt. Colantuno. “He did suffer some pretty significant injuries during the collision. I know that he probably has a bit of a recovery path in front of him,” he says.
The other two passengers were taken by ambulance to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown. “Non-life threatening injuries. But they were obviously incapacitated from the crash. But they were both conscious and alert when I met with them,” says Sgt. Colantuno.
The Frederick County School System, officials at Middletown High and the students’ parents have been informed of the crash, and counselors will be made available for students who feel they need them.
Investigators have “been able to confirm that both the right front passenger and left rear passenger were seat-belted,” says Sgt. Colantuno. “We’re looking at other moving parts of the crash to determine if the driver who was ultimately ejected from the vehicle was belted or not.”
Sgt. Colantuno says the investigation into this crash is continuing.
By Kevin McManus