At approximately 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, emergency responders were dispatched on Point Lookout Road for a car crash with injuries in front of the Scotland Post Office. Responders included Ridge Volunteer Fire Department, as well as fire and emergency personnel from the base, State Troopers, and St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Office.
The car, a red Corvette, occupied by two men, had run off the road while traveling south on Route 5, and was flipped on its top in a ditch at the side of the roadway. When police and emergency personnel arrived on the scene both men were already out of the upturned car and in need of medical assistance.
From the visible skid marks, police deduced the car had left the roadway a couple of miles north of where it landed overturned. Along the grassy boarder were pieces of the Corvette that had been broken off as it traveled along the grass, for part of the way on its roof. There were also beer cans and a pair of sunglasses.
The two men were both thought to be intoxicated, and the problem facing police was to determine who the driver was. Initially both occupants claimed to have been the passenger.
The younger of the two men, who looked to be in his late teens, was disorderly and confrontational. Twice he jumped out of the ambulance, seemingly not too badly injured, and argued with officers. The young man challenged a Trooper to “lock me up right now,” during one of the confrontations.
The man, who was a very thin white male, claimed to have crawled out of the car once it was lodged in the ditch and then to have helped the other man out. From the position of the car and the violence of the crash, his story seemed unlikely. He appeared to have no difficulty in walking and the only obvious sign of injury was a pad he clasped to one eye.
Eventually officers from St. Mary’s County Sherriff managed to obtain a confession from the older man, who they interviewed inside an ambulance. It is likely the passenger, who was nowhere near as seriously hurt, jumped from the vehicle before the final impact.
The driver was seriously hurt, but his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. At first personnel intended to transport him via ambulance, but when they learned there were no advanced-treatment medic units in the county at that time they requested a helicopter.
The driver, who has not yet been identified, was airborne in the medivac unit for a regional hospital by 5:25 p.m.
A press release from police is still pending at this time. More information will given as it becomes available. Speed and alcohol appear to be factors in the crash.
