Drivers charged months after high-speed crash kills 6 road workers, officials say

Two drivers have been charged in connection with a March crash that killed six construction workers on a Maryland highway, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Lisa Adrienne Lea, 54, and Melachi Brown, 20, were indicted by a grand jury on more than 25 charges on June 5, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office told McClatchy News in an email.

The charges stem from a two-vehicle collision on March 22, which sent a car crashing into a construction zone, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Two cars were traveling along I-695 in Baltimore at “speeds in excess of the posted speed limit and greater than the speed of adjacent traffic,” when one of the cars tried to change lanes, the report said.

The cars, driven by Lea and Brown, collided as Lea’s Acura TLX scraped the front of Brown’s Volkswagen Jetta, according to the report.

The collision caused Lea’s car to “spin out of control,” the report said, sending the Acura through an opening in concrete barriers that separated the highway from a work zone.

“As the Acura traveled through the work zone, it struck miscellaneous construction materials and six of the workers before eventually coming to a stop after overturning,” the report said. “As a result of the crash, the six construction workers who were struck in the protected area of the work zone died.”

Five of the six workers were employed by Concrete General Inc., the Baltimore Banner reported, and they were working on a project to help reduce road congestion on the Baltimore Beltway.

Lea was seriously injured and taken to a trauma center, McClatchy News previously reported.

Brown was uninjured from the crash, according to the NTSB report.

Maryland State Police later identified the construction workers who died as Rolando Ruiz, 46, Carlos Orlando Villatoro Escobar, 43, Jose Armando Escobar, 52, Mahlon Simmons III, 31, Mahlon Simmons II, 52, and Sybil Lee Dimaggio, 46.

“On behalf of all the residents of Baltimore County, we offer our sincere condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in today’s tragic crash and my prayers remain with those injured in this horrific incident,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski wrote in a tweet on March 22.

On June 5, Brown was indicted on 27 charges, according to court records, ranging from aggressive driving to negligent manslaughter. He was taken into custody and will appear in court for the first time on June 6, court records show.

Lea was charged with 28 counts, with an additional charge related to driving while impaired by drugs, according to the indictment obtained by McClatchy News.

Lea was driving at 121 mph in the 55 mph work zone when the crash occurred, WMAR reported.

She was also “so far impaired by any drug, any combination of drugs, or a combination of one or more drugs and alcohol that she cannot drive a vehicle safely, against the peace, government, and dignity of the State,” according to the indictment.

Authorities are searching for Lea, and she will be taken into custody when they find her, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

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