The primary cause of a single vehicle accident in Baltimore County that killed two Bel Air High School juniors in October was the driver's failure to drive to the right of center on a two-lane road, the final police report of the crash concludes.
Contributing factors included exceeding the posted rate of speed and driving too fast for the conditions of the wet roadway, the report from the Baltimore County Police Department, provided to The Aegis Dec. 2, states.
The deaths of Marvin Hernandez, of Bel Air, and Ryan Harris, of Forest Hill, who were both 16, stunned the Bel Air High School community. The boys were juniors at the school and well-liked, according to family, friends and school officials.
The crash occurred at about 11:25 p.m. on Oct. 3, a Friday night, in the 6900 block of Mount Vista Road, near the intersection of Gontrum Road, about two miles south of Kingsville. Investigators said the road was wet and it had started to rain when they arrived at the scene.
Neither Marvin, who was driving, nor Ryan, the sole passenger, had a valid driver's license, according to the Baltimore County Police Department's 26-page report and reconstruction of the accident. Both had learner's permits which, under Maryland law, meant neither should have been operating the vehicle, the report notes.
"A further contributing cause to the crash is the operator...failed to comply with his license restriction (learner's permit) under Maryland Transportation Article 16-105 by failing to have the proper supervision while driving," wrote Officer 1st Class Jason Keller, a certified accident reconstructionist, who based the report's conclusions "on my observations and evidence collected at the scene."
The statute cited by the investigator states that a person with a learner's permit may drive "only while accompanied by and under the immediate supervision of an individual who: is at least 21 years old; has been licensed for at least 3 years in this State or in another state to drive vehicles of the class then being driven by the holder of the learner's instructional permit; and unless the vehicle is a motorcycle, is seated beside the holder of the learner's instructional permit."
Subsequent interviews by police of the victim's families, or their representatives, also concluded that Marvin did not have permission to use the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse in which the boys were riding and that Marvin's family was unaware the vehicle had been taken until police notified them of his death, the report states.
According to the police accident report, the Eclipse was traveling south on Mt. Vista Road north of Gontrum Road "at a high rate of speed."
The vehicle "was exiting a right hand bend in the roadway and down a negative grade on the wet roadway," the report continues, when it "crossed the double yellow centerline into the northbound lane of Mt. Vista Road...ran off the east shoulder striking and overriding the east curb. The vehicle then struck a tree on the passenger side.
Both boys were wearing seat belts and were extricated from the vehicle, whose air bags deployed, according to the accident report. They were transported by Kingsville Volunteer Fire Co. ambulance to Franklin Square Hospital in Rosedale, where Ryan was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m. and Marvin at 12:40 a.m. A state medical examiner concluded both boys died from multiple injuries. No alcohol or drugs were present, according to the report.
Witnesses interviewed by investigators included a resident of the 6800 block of Mt. Vista Road, who told them via telephone she was inside her home with another person when she heard a "fast vehicle (engine)" and when she looked out a window saw a vehicle, which "flew by."
The resident told police she later walked to the crash scene and "identified the same vehicle drive[n] by her house at a high rate of speed prior to the crash, as the same vehicle that was involved in the crash."