A single-vehicle car accident in Anne Arundel County claimed the lives of three young friends and left a fourth critically injured early morning on Easter Sunday.
David Michael D’Augustine, age 22 and a resident of Odenton, was driving a 2005 Subaru sedan southbound along Piney Orchard Parkway in Odenton around 12:30 a.m. when the accident occurred.
According to preliminary police reports, D’Augustine apparently lost control of the car as he attempted to maneuver a slight curve just south of Riverscape Road.
The vehicle left the road and crashed head-on into a light pole and a tree before rolling over and slamming to a stop roof-first into a second tree.
Paramedics arrived at the scene only to discover that D’Augustine and two of his passengers had already died from the impact of the crash. Samuel Carl Schindler and Katherine Marie Warrington, cousins, were both 22 years old and residents of Odenton.
A fourth passenger, 22-year-old Michael Lee Phillips of Grambrills, had to be extracted from the car with the Jaws of Life and was rushed via helicopter to a Baltimore Shock Trauma Center, where he remains in critical but stable condition.
Police are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash. They believe speed may have played a factor in the fatal Maryland car accident.
Friends of the young people who died say that D’Augustine and Schindler were best friends who were rarely seen apart. The two graduated in 2008 from Anne Arundel High School, after which both joined the military. D’Augustine served in the Air Force and Schindler in the Navy.
Friends knew Schindler’s cousin Warrington (Katie as she was called) to be a “free-spirited, fun-loving” girl.
The Maryland auto accident lawyers of Nickelsporn & Lundin express our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of these young people.