Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
Authorities look at one of the vehicles involved Friday in a four-vehicle accident, which resulted in two deaths west of the Patuxent River Bridge on Route 231 in Benedict.
Two Benedict senior citizens were killed Friday morning in a four-vehicle collision near the Patuxent River Bridge in Benedict that also injured three people.
Franz and Evelyn Isabelle Sommer were in their vehicle in the eastbound lane of Route 231 waiting to make a left turn onto Dicandia Dorsey Place when their blue 2011 Ford Focus was rear-ended by a Penske rental truck at 11:36 a.m., according to reports from a Maryland State Police investigation.
The collision pushed the Sommers’ vehicle into the westbound lane of Route 231, where it struck head-on a green 2001 Mitsubishi Galant being driven by Deborah Ellen Parkinson, 42, of Hollywood. Both Franz, 84, and Evelyn Sommer, 67, who had been driving, died in the accident.
The Penske truck ended up hitting a silver 2003 Saturn L200 driven by Kimberly Leighanne Garcia, 23, of Lusby, which was behind Parkinson’s vehicle in the westbound lane. Two children, ages 2 months and 1 year, were inside Garcia’s car and taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries, Cpl. Chris Bowling of the state police La Plata barrack said.
The Sommers’ and Garcia’s cars became lodged underneath the Penske truck, which was driven by Michael Anthony Duckett, 32, of Temple Hills.
Parkinson and Garcia were taken to Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly to be treated for unknown injuries. Duckett was taken to Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick with unknown injuries while his passenger, Xavier Laroy Taylor, 37, of Capitol Heights was unharmed, police reported.
None of those injuries were life-threatening, Bowling said.
The accident shut down Route 231 in both directions for hours. Police left the scene around 6 p.m., Bowling said
The Sommers’ bodies were taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore.
Charges against Duckett, whom investigators found caused the accident by failing to control his speed, are pending the completion of the investigation, Bowling said. Alcohol does not appear to have been a factor.
Ricky Mackall of Prince Frederick was driving westbound on the bridge when the accident occurred. He did not see the actual crash, but saw rising smoke and steam from the bridge and pulled over once he reached the scene.
Mackall helped firefighters pull Parkinson from her car, which had flipped over. Her knee and shin were torn open, he said.
“She was hysterical. She was talking, saying ‘Someone please get me out of here,’” Mackall said.
Born and raised in Hungary, Franz Sommer emigrated to the United States in 1950 and settled in Capitol Heights, according to an obituary submitted to the Maryland Independent. He married Evelyn, then a widow, Aug. 13, 1966.
The couple lived in Lothian and Franz worked as a self-employed bricklayer for many years before becoming a groundskeeper for the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. They moved to Benedict after Franz retired in 1988.
Staff writers Erica Mitrano and Emily Barnes contributed to this report.
jnewman@somdnews.com