Police: 7 dead in likely drag-race crash

[DynoTom]

ACCOKEEK, Md. — A car plowed into a crowd that apparently gathered to watch a drag race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing seven people and injuring at least four, police said.

The car went out of control on Route 210 around 3:40 a.m. and hit people standing on the roadside, Prince George's County Police Cpl. Clinton Copeland said. A tractor-trailer that came by shortly afterward may also have struck someone on the road as it tried to avoid the crash, he said.

"It's probably one of the worst scenes I've seen," Copeland said. "This is a situation that could have been avoided, and it's a very tragic situation."

Four people were taken to hospitals, Copeland said. Their conditions weren't immediately known.

Route 210 has two lanes in each direction and traffic lights about every 150 to 200 yards in Accokeek, about 20 miles south of Washington.

Investigators were working to piece together the chain of events and had "more questions than answers," Copeland said.

[Karps TA]

reading the stories now, it looks like a car not involved in the race, driving with it's lights off ran into these people. Probably a drunk driver from what it sounds like.

[Heat Seeker WS6]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/16/drag.race.deaths.ap/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/16/drag.race.deaths.ap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

[brotherbenn83]

Gathering alongside a highway at 3:40am never seemed like a good idea to me...and this is why.

[rogerdarkness]

just another story to point the finger at street racing... it sounds like the guy who crashed is at falt not the two that were racing... why would the cops even want to find out who was racing??? lets do the right thing charge the guy who crashed!!!

[Deggy]

just another story to point the finger at street racing... it sounds like the guy who crashed is at falt not the two that were racing... why would the cops even want to find out who was racing??? lets do the right thing charge the guy who crashed!!!

:thumbsup

[CPonyGo]

the one who crashed ended up with a body in his car..cops thought it was apssenger!!!!!! and the white car according to latest reports came into the smoke and all when ppl filed out after the racers took off- then a semi did and hit a body. its now up to 8

[Heat Seeker WS6]

just another story to point the finger at street racing... it sounds like the guy who crashed is at falt not the two that were racing... why would the cops even want to find out who was racing??? lets do the right thing charge the guy who crashed!!!

Im sure they're gonna charge the guy who hit them (for no headlights) BUT why should he expect- even w/o lights on to run into a group of people IN the street at 3am?? Also guilty of breaking the law were the street racers, afterall its still illegal. Racers bring crowds and with that comes RESPONSIBILITY. If no one would have been racing on that street at 3am 7 or 8 people wouldnt have been killed watching them. Something happens at a street race- everyone's guilty. Just being there condones it- watching or racing.

[Mr Twigbert]

I sure enjoy using all the power of my Cobra but this is just anther wake up call for us all to becareful..

[Windsors 03 Cobra]

I despise drunk driving and I guess street racing (something I like) is just as bad, my bias has clouded my vision up until this point.

[nismodave]

People will always die. People will always street race.

I dont see th big deal.

[PB86MCSS]

Im sure they're gonna charge the guy who hit them (for no headlights) BUT why should he expect- even w/o lights on to run into a group of people IN the street at 3am?? Also guilty of breaking the law were the street racers, afterall its still illegal. Racers bring crowds and with that comes RESPONSIBILITY. If no one would have been racing on that street at 3am 7 or 8 people wouldnt have been killed watching them. Something happens at a street race- everyone's guilty. Just being there condones it- watching or racing.

Agreed 100%. I'm always surprised by the amount of people who condone street racing even on this board.

[Reverend Cooper]

its called thinning the herd

[moels]

I was dumbfounded when I read the part where the lady had to get her daughter out of the way and her 61 year old father was killed. Was the whole fukkin family really that stupid??

[Lash]

just another story to point the finger at street racing... it sounds like the guy who crashed is at falt not the two that were racing... why would the cops even want to find out who was racing??? lets do the right thing charge the guy who crashed!!!

Are you kidding me? :stare

[juicedimpss]

I was dumbfounded when I read the part where the lady had to get her daughter out of the way and her 61 year old father was killed. Was the whole fukkin family really that stupid??

exactly.
another one of natures way to clean up the gene pool.

[Lash]

Something I read on another forum. Yes...people really are this stupid.


drivers must yield to pedestrians. It doesn't matter if they were sitting in the street having a barbecue
I don't see what street racing has to do with this.


:stare

[badass88gt]

What's really stupid is they always say this is a drag racing accident, when they should be saying street racing instead.

[70 cutlass 442]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19114998

the car that killed the people were neither of the two racing, how is this a street racing accident? the car coulda plowed into a bus stop and done the same carnage.

[Lash]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19114998

the car that killed the people were neither of the two racing, how is this a street racing accident? the car coulda plowed into a bus stop and done the same carnage.

Maybe because people that were participating in the racing activities were standing in the middle of the highway.....and the smoke form the tires that probably caused visibility problems is what caused the driver to not be able to see the idiots standing in the middle of the effing road???

Apples to oranges my friend.

Looks at the ages of all those who died. You'd think they would have know better than to be doing that shit.

What shocks me is all the people who are defending them. If they weren't ILLEGALLY street racing or ILLEGALLY participating in watching the event....this accident would have never happened.

[70 cutlass 442]

Maybe because people that were participating in the racing activities were standing in the middle of the highway.....and the smoke form the tires that probably caused visibility problems is what caused the driver to not be able to see the idiots standing in the middle of the effing road???

Apples to oranges my friend.

Looks at the ages of all those who died. You'd think they would have know better than to be doing that shit.

What shocks me is all the people who are defending them. If they weren't ILLEGALLY street racing or ILLEGALLY participating in watching the event....this accident would have never happened.

Standind in the middle of the hwy waching a race is probably not the best of ideas, but dont you think that driving at 3am with no lights on had a factor? not only would he maybe of been able to see the people/ smoke, but people maybe also would have been able to see the car at the last moment and maybe ben able to get out the way. just a thought

[moels]

^^^There is some speculation that the cars lights were not working because the car had already hit some people before the witness saw it.

[Lash]

Only ONE person said that the car didn't have lights......


and thats the same chick who had her "child" out in the middle of the road at 3:40 in the morning.

[rogerdarkness]

I would be interested in the number of people that are killed every year by street racing... i would bet that the number is less than the number of people killed by the flu,drunk driving, I would even bet that more people die from falling off of a ladder when cleaning there gutters... all im saying is that people have made this out to be such a big issue when there are so many other things that kill alot more people every year and we just accept it as an acceptible lose!!! Street racing is illegal and should not be done It's just as much fun to take it to the track... but there is no way to stop it people will always do it and that's the way it is... I would really like to know who on here has the balls to say that they have never raced on the street??? and remember that what street racing really is... its not just organized illegal drag racing on a public road... anytime you and another person use there cars in a disblay of speed or power next to one and other...no matter how brief it is your still being irresponsible and breaking the law... just because you have never been busted for doing or think your being "safe" when doing it doesn't mean its not illegal. so lets all just get off the shock and aww kick and just relize that s*** happens

[Heat Seeker WS6]

I would really like to know who on here has the balls to say that they have never raced on the street???

Ill stand up
I used to and yeah it was fun for what it was. Wrong to do it- definately. Now I don't, and I stand firmly against it. I'll burp the car a bit here & there still, but not 'race' others. Flame it or not, it doesnt bother me.

[70 cutlass 442]

i agree completely with the above statement, the media is making this seem as this is a street racing vs socioity thing. I will also admit that i have participated in theses events, with and without a crowd. But really, how often do you hear of one of the two cars involved crashing into innocent people? i know of one time recently at least that we talked about a month or so back where 2 guys were killed, one struck by the car and another because the idiots ended up shooting each other. Yes its not safe, in reality, how often are the 2 racers to blame?