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Driver hits poles, dies
Man thrown from SUV on Route 235
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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A Lexington Park man died, authorities report, after he was thrown from a sport-utility vehicle that went out of control Saturday night on Route 235 and struck two poles along the highway.
Steven Michael Campbell, 21, was taken to St. Mary's Hospital and died there from injuries suffered in the 11:18 p.m. crash that occurred at the highway's intersection with Buck Hewitt Road, according to St. Mary's sheriff's deputies.
Campbell was driving the 1996 Ford Explorer south on the highway when it drifted from the far right travel lane, sheriff's deputies report, and proceeded to strike and sheer a new traffic light pole from its moorings, before slamming into another light pole.
Bay District volunteer firefighters responding to the scene with Lexington Park rescue volunteers and a county advanced life-support unit report that power lines were down across the highway when they arrived, and that the ejected motorist was unconscious. A call for a Maryland State Police helicopter crew was canceled after the injured man went into cardiac arrest and he was rushed by ambulance to the hospital in Leonardtown.
"Despite all efforts, the patient succumbed to his injuries a short time later," according to a report on the incident by Bay District Deputy Chief Jeff Evans.
Campbell was a 2005 graduate of Great Mills High School who played the guitar and saxophone, according to an obituary, and he had a daughter. Campbell worked as a carpet cleaning technician.
Firefighters remained on the scene of the crash for two hours as sheriff's deputies carried out a reconstruction investigation, and county officials report that utility workers and state highway crews also responded.
The traffic light pole knocked down onto the roadway was removed.
The sheriff's office has requested that anyone witnessing the collision or having information about the crash call Cpl. Emory Johnson at 301-475-4200, ext. 9030.
