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Three people died and several more were injured in a multiple-vehicle crash in Anne Arundel County on Tuesday, August 27. Details of the fatal Maryland auto accident are below:
On Tuesday, August 27, a 5 p.m. traffic accident, involving a flatbed truck and seven other vehicles, killed three people, including two children. The accident apparently occurred when the driver of a flatbed delivery truck failed to slow down as he approached Route 3 in Millersville.
Anne Arundel County police estimate that 36-year-old Jason Pagayoya of Waldorf was traveling around 50 miles per hour (within the speed limit) as he neared a traffic signal at Route 175. It is unclear whether Pagayoya failed to see the vehicles in front of him slowing down or failed to stop in time to avoid the crash.
Pagayoya rear-ended a Toyota Camry, which in turn caused a chain-reaction car accident. Three of the passengers in the Camry died, and two others were taken to a local trauma center in critical condition.
Those who lost their lives in the Maryland truck accident have been identified as 37-year-old Bethany Dempsey; her 14-year-old daughter, Lauren White; and her boyfriend’s 7-year-old daughter, Abigail Cullen. Local news reports confirmed that Dempsey and her daughter are the daughter and granddaughter of a Virginia sheriff who was reportedly celebrating his 60th birthday on the day of the accident.
The driver of the Camry was Dempsey’s boyfriend, 37-year-old Michael Cullen II. He and his 15-year-old son Michael “Bubba” Cullen were both in critical but stable condition. All five of the occupants of the Camry are residents of Warsaw, Virginia.
Anne Arundel County Police spokesman Lt. Glenn Shanahan described the accident as “one of the worst I’d ever seen … horrible.” In all, the crash involved eight vehicles and 14 people.
We express our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of those who died and wish a speedy recovery to the other victims involved in this tragic accident.