Crash kills mother at Oakville school

Woman had dropped off students

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

A Maryland State Police helicopter crew flew 33-year-old Linda Riddle to the Prince George’s Hospital Center after the midmorning collision, where she later was pronounced dead, police Lt. Brian Cedar said.

‘‘She had just dropped off two kids, who are students at the school, and was heading back out,” Cedar said.

Another vehicle that had stopped to the left of Riddle’s sedan at the school’s exit blocked her view of oncoming traffic on the highway, the lieutenant said.

‘‘She pulled directly into the path of another vehicle,” Cedar said.

The two children at Oakville Elementary are a son in fifth grade and a daughter in third grade, authorities said. A third child of the victim attends Leonardtown High School.

The accident occurred at about 9 a.m., when school starts. Many parents were at the school that morning because of several end-of-the-year events, including a picnic and prekindergarten promotion ceremony.

‘‘The children had been dropped off and the parent was leaving the building,” according to Linda Dudderar, the chief academic officer for the school. Dudderar arrived at the building along with two school counselors after the accident to aid students.

Route 235 was blocked off in either direction for several blocks from the school with only one lane of traffic allowed through for several hours after the accident, Dudderar said.

School officials rushed to notify the children’s father, who was at home, Dudderar said.

‘‘We didn’t know what he would need but we wanted to provide him support,” she said. Two pupil personnel workers went to the home.

A family friend planned to pick up all three children from school later Tuesday.

School officials had not notified them of their mother’s accident. ‘‘It’s really a parent’s right to tell the children,” Dudderar said Tuesday afternoon.

Police report that 51-year-old Mechanicsville resident Michael Self, the driver of the northbound Dodge pickup truck that collided with Riddle’s Ford Focus, did not require hospital care after the accident.