A 29-year-old Laurel man was killed early Sunday while crossing the Washington Beltway to help another driver, police in Prince George's County said.

The two had been in a minor collision about 2:30 a.m. in the southbound lanes of Interstate 495, and each pulled over on opposite sides of the highway. A dispatcher for the Maryland State Police said that one of the drivers, Carlton Smith Jr., who had stopped on the right side of the thoroughfare, stepped out of his car to check on the other driver, a woman who had parked on the left side, because he appeared to be concerned about her.

"I guess he figured she didn't get out of the vehicle quickly enough," the dispatcher said. "As he ran across the road, he was hit."

Smith was struck in the highway's fast lane, near Ritchie Marlboro Road, by a Chevrolet Express van, the dispatcher said. He was prounounced dead at the scene.