Two teenagers were injured in a single-car crash Monday afternoon in Columbia, after an 18-year-old driver left the roadway and slammed into a telephone pole.
Daniel Howard Baker, of the 6000 block of Mellow Wine Way in Columbia, was driving a 1996 Acura southeast on the 8000 block of Harriet Tubman Lane when the collision occurred shortly after 4 p.m., according to Howard County police.
He was transported via Maryland State Police helicopter to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was listed in critical condition.
His front-seat passenger, a 15-year-old girl whose name was not released, was also transported to the center with serious injuries, police said. Both teens were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash.
Speed and Baker's failure to stay in his lane contributed to the crash, which shut down a portion of Harriet Tubman Lane for several hours afterward, police said.