7 killed as car hits Md. drag-race crowd

[nebula]

Source: Associated Press/Yahoo

By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer
Feb. 16, 008

ACCOKEEK, Md. - A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a drag race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing seven people and injuring at least four, police said. Witnesses said they had just watched two cars in the illegal street race speed past when a car without any lights on came up behind them and veered into a crowd of about 50.

"There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, whose father was among the dead. Gaines said she grabbed her child but could not help her father, William Gaines Sr., 61. "He wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving," she said. "His body was in pieces."

A white sedan hit people standing on the side of Route 210 around 3:40 a.m., Prince George's County Police Cpl. Clinton Copeland said, but it wasn't clear whether that was one of the cars involved in the race. A tractor-trailer that came by shortly afterward may also have struck someone on the road as it tried to avoid the crash, he said.

"It's probably one of the worst scenes I've seen," Copeland said. "This is a situation that could have been avoided, and it's a very tragic situation."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080216/ap_on_re_us/drag_racing_deaths;_ylt=AmppteP5I1B3aclgIcEzXdGs0NUE

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Someone must be really busy handing out all the Darwin awards today.

[fenriswolf]

1. this sounds intentional

when a car without any lights on came up behind them and veered into a crowd of about 50.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. I suppose we'll find out in time since the driver of that car survived.

Considering the fact that they had at least one passenger (who died) in the vehicle with them, I'm not so sure it was intentional. However, you never know.

[MilesColtrane]

7. Nope

If you read the article you'll notice that the crowd was standing in the middle of the road. Dim lighting and tire smoke obscured them which led to the driver of the white sedan being unable to stop in time.

[DesEtoiles]

8. or drunk or high

[Yael]

2. What in the hell was this woman thinking -- taking her child to an illegal

drag race at 3:30 in the morning?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. It's part of a culture most of us do not understand.

I'm not saying it's good; I'm just saying that thinking rarely plays a role.

[kdmorris]

17. Welcome to Charles County, MD

Where ignorance breeds more ignorance.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. This morning's WP has a pretty good article about this...

It gets into the cultural element of illegal street racing. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/16/AR2008021602549.html?hpid=topnews

[northzax]

21. and for some odd rrason

no one who was there seems to know anyone else.

[Carrieyazel]

19. The accident happened in Prince George's County didn't it?

[kdmorris]

20. Possibly...on edit, yes, according to the map on the WP article

It's right where Charles and PG County join. The article did state that there were PG County cops on the scene, so I guess it was right over the line.

Either way, the culture is pretty much the same there.

Edited to add: Yes, it was in PG County.

[Carrieyazel]

30. Yes, its right at the border there. These races have been going on for years in outer burbs

and rural areas.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

26. darwin awards indeed.

[TrogL]

29. that culture is being promoted by recent movies

like all these "drift" movies that have been promoted lately eg. 2 fast 2 furious

[KansDem]

3. Where were the adults on this?

"There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, whose father was among the dead. Gaines said she grabbed her child...

Oh, I see...

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Stupidity knows no age barriers

If I ever doubted that before I don't now. :(

[Historic NY]

6. Darwin awards nominee's, illegal street racing...........

thats why they build race tracks, public streets are not venues for illegal street racing it dangerous and stupid. There are no innocent
bystanders in street racing, why because w/o their participation it would not occur. Spectators fuel this activity with betting and other activity that spurs it on.

[CRF450]

10. Didn't expect the the racer to be driving a Crown Vic, he doesn't deserve a DL again!

I hate these stupid street racers, they really give those of us who race legally a bad name. I almost had my 01 Trans Am taken away because some jackass in a turbo'd Civic wanted to race me from the stop light. I saw an unmarked cop on left side of the intersection from where we were, I tried pointing that to him but he didn't get the message. Well, he took off when the light turned green, I was expecting the cop to go after him, but instead he pulled me over and slapped me with a reckless driving ticket!:mad: Luckily, I fought it in court and had the fine lifted. My insurance is safe now.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

11. I agree.

You wanna race? Take it to the local Drag Strip. A real one, where real racers really race.

This was two morons on a back road, likely with blue bottles in their trunks and a lot of silly people on the side of the road. Any similarity ro real racing is purely accidental.

Drag Racing occurs on Drag Strips. What occurs on public roads is Motorized Public Idiocy.

[CRF450]

13. And you know, I admit I'v street raced a few times... but not in a setting like this

The chances of someone getting hurt when theirs a crowd close by is 20x greater than just a simple high speed run on the highway with no cars or people around. I know its still dangerous, I'd much rather go to the track, or have the moments on the road by myself far away from population.

[RamboLiberal]

12. He wasn't part of the race - he was just a driver on the highway

who drove in to the scene and these morons who had spilled in to the street to watch the racing cars. Let the cops sort it out.

Thick smoke and dark conditions likely meant the driver of a car that plowed into a group of people on a suburban road early Saturday, killing eight, never saw the crowd, police said.

The deadly crash happened when about 50 people who had gathered to watch a drag race spilled onto the highway to watch two racing cars speed off.

Police said the white sedan was not involved in the street race but accidentally drove into the crowd.

-----

Gaines said the car did not have its lights on, but police could not confirm that.

-----

A tractor-trailer that came by shortly afterward may also have struck someone on the road as it tried to avoid the crash, he said.

-----

The driver of the white sedan had been interviewed and did not appear to be seriously hurt, Police Capt. Donald Frick said. Police said a body found in the car was one of the spectators and not a passenger as they had previously reported.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/16/drag.race.deaths.ap/index.html

Anyone who drives can tell you that at night at best it can be last minute till you see someone in the street. Who would be expecting a crowd of people to be standing in the street in the wee hours of the morning!

[CRF450]

14. Ok, I stant corrected....

I need to make it a habit to read the whole article:blush:

[RamboLiberal]

15. This info came out after the OP articles

You were just going on what you read.

[Blue_Tires]

16. man...i used to live up that way, too...

when i was living in P.G. there was a HUGE issue with the sportbikes racing on public roads in the middle of the night (i complained to the state troopers/PGPD several times)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

27. Middle of the day too

Two or three years ago, I was coming back from Annapolis to Alexandria on a motorcycle (1987 Kawasaki EX500, not exactly a performance bike). I was on the inner loop, between FedEx Field and Andrews AFB. This was a warm Saturday afternoon in May, so the traffic was pretty heavy. A posse of PeeGee County Boyz on performance bikes came through the crowd, splitting lanes and weaving in and out. They must have exited around Route 4, maybe. I was glad to see them go, as they were making everyone in a car hate bikers.

Responding to a lower post, I note that the mom with the 13-year old child, out at 3 a.m., became a mom at the age of 14.

[Skittles]

22. three generations of a family on a road at pre-dawn

and we wonder how the fuck people can vote repuke

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

23. One of those things...

Where you have a sick feeling that the baby had two bottles: one with whiskey and one with beer, to knock the whiskey back.

[LisaL]

24. Not a baby. The kid was 13.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-usrace175581375feb17,0,6498494.story

[northzax]

25. and the mother is 27

grandpa was fifty, which means he was a grandfather at 37 or 38. Ouch.

[Scout]

31. my mother was a grandmother at 37....

so?

:shrug:

[northzax]

32. there is, as you no doubt know

a fairly strong correlation between teenage pregnancy and reduced educational and resulting economic achievement. Combine that with three generations attending an illegal drag race at 300am and you start to find markets of serious dysfunction.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

28. I'd be willing to wager any amount of money that these were not Republicans.

Working class blacks from PG County, with an occasional Latino in the mix?

This is eight fewer votes for Obama.

[joeglow3]

33. Hmmmm. That is an odd response.

Not quite what I would have said.

[FalconsRule]

35. I'm with you...

What the heck does party affiliation have to do with this???

[CRF450]

34. I would too,

Because alot of the street racing scene these days is centered around the hip hop culture, where theirs alot of import cars that these people are trying to make look flashy. Like what you see on the Fast And Furious movies. And the hip hop culture, is not known for being republican. Although I dont think much of those kids concern themselfs with politics.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

36. "... the hip hop culture is not known for being republican."

Yeah. That, and I've seen the video footage of the friends and families of the victims on the local TV stations, channels 4, 5, 7, and 9. I don't think a one of them is a member of a country club.