A collision between a sport utility vehicle and a Utz delivery truck yesterday evening in Finksburg killed a prominent Carroll County orthodontist and injured seven others, including the dentist's six children.
State police in Westminster said a GMC Yukon driven by Dr. Kevin Robert Lawyer, 39, of Finksburg and occupied by his six children - ages 5 to 11, including two sets of twins - was southbound on Route 91 (Emory Road) south of Old Gamber Road in Finksburg shortly after 4:30 p.m. when the driver crossed the center dividing line and crashed head-on into a northbound Utz Potato Co. delivery truck.
Both vehicles were heavily damaged, police said.
Police said Lawyer was pronounced dead at the scene.
Four of his children were taken by ambulance to Carroll County General Hospital, and two others were airlifted by a state police helicopter to Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
Their conditions were not available.
Police said the truck driver, Donald E. Myers Jr. of Hanover, Pa., was seriously injured and was airlifted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
The accident is being investigated by a police crash team.
State police said 71 people have died on the state's roads this year, up from 49 at the corresponding time last year.