Maryland State Police are looking for a motorist who struck a 20-year-old West Virginia man as he walked on I-70 in Hagerstown. After the driver left the scene, the struck man was hit by a second vehicle and later pronounced dead.

The victim was identified as James Lloyd Weatherholtz of Martinsburg, W.Va. Police say he had gotten into an argument with a passenger while driving westward on the highway shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday. Weatherholtz stopped just east of exit 29, got out, and began walking away on the left shoulder of the interstate, according to the police account.

Witnesses told police that as Weatherholtz walked on the yellow line separating the left shoulder of the roadway from the fast lane, a vehicle struck him and kept going down the highway. Another vehicle, a 1998 Chevrolet Venture minivan driven by Milagro Cordero, a New Jersey resident, then hit Weatherholtz.

State police said the Hagerstown barracks, which is located near the scene of the accident, received numerous calls regarding a pedestrian struck by a vehicle on the highway. Troopers who found him lying in the center median quickly summoned paramedics, but Weatherholtz did not survive. All lanes of westbound I-70 were closed in that area for about two hours while the accident was investigated.

Police are asking anyone who might have seen the accident occur, or who might have details on the initial vehicle involved, to call the Hagerstown barrack at 301-739-2102.

nick.madigan@baltsun.com