A 41-year-old man was killed yesterday in the Louisville area when his car collided head-on with a tractor-trailer loaded with furniture.
State police said the body of the driver, identified as Paul Leonard Norris, was trapped in his 1982 Pontiac Grand Prix for more than three hours.
Mr. Norris was pronounced dead on the scene by Dr. Richard Jones, associate medical examiner for Carroll County. Police said the victim lived with two relatives, one in Pikesville and the other in New Windsor.
A passenger on the furniture truck was hospitalized after the crash.
State police said the Pontiac was northbound on Route 32, just north of the bridge over Liberty Reservoir, about 9:40 a.m.
They said the driver apparently tried to pass a small truck. The crash occurred in the southbound lane of the two-lane road.
The automobile was pushed backward about 65 feet, across the northbound lane and into the guardrail, with the tractor stopping on top of the car.
Investigators said the tractor-trailer was driven by Edward T. Robinson, 41, of Greensboro, N.C. He has been driving a tractor-trailer for about 12 years, he said. The truck was loaded with furniture from the Thomasville Co.
Mr. Robinson said, "I was headed towards Eldersburg to deliver furniture to a house, when I saw the car in my lane and I was locking up the brakes.
"The car hit me head-on and we went across the road and into the guardrail. I lost my steering and I didn't know I was on top of the car until I got out of my truck. There wasn't anything I could do for the man."
A helper in the furniture truck was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for injuries from the crash, according to Mr. Robinson.
Firefighters from the Gamber station were responding to a house fire in the 6400 block of Locust Lane when they came upon the crash and called for additional emergency equipment.
Rescue workers from Gamber and Sykesville sent for two heavy-duty tow trucks to lift the front of the tractor and pull the Pontiac out from under it. The man was removed from his car at 12:51 p.m.
The body was taken to the medical examiner's office in Baltimore for an autopsy.
Rescue workers had to disassemble a section of the guardrail to release the Pontiac, which was wedged under it. The road was closed from 9:40 a.m. until 2 p.m., police said.
Investigators from the state police crash team and the state commercial truck enforcement unit reconstructed the collision and examined the tractor-trailer. No defects were found, police said.
A separate accident occurred behind the fatal collision, when a county pickup truck driven by James Parker, 45, of Taneytown applied the brakes to avoid striking the rear of the tractor-trailer.
A 1984 Mercury Cougar driven by Dawn Nomick, 24, of Hampstead ran into the rear of the pickup. No one was hurt, police said.