Old news: Henry Avenue crash

So Fridays are my “down” days — as if there were such a thing in this biz. Last Friday I took the whole day off and ventured to the Eastern Shore (prompting my last post), but the previous Friday I intended to sleep late, then work a little.

My husband left for work around 9am like he usually does. But a few minutes later the phone rang. He had just driven by a downed pole on Henry Avenue. (Yes, he drove right under the lines next to the broken-in-half pole, and didn’t think twice about being electrocuted or possibly having his car crushed, but let’s ignore that for now.) It must have just happened, he said. Because no one was “on the scene.” I believe his exact words were, “You better get over here.”

Minutes later I’m throwing on clothes and pondering teeth brushing and hair combing (I opted for no and a bandana) when the phone rings again. There’s another car accident at Belair and Henry, the husband says. I think, “what the heck is wrong with people?,” but I say, “I can’t get there if I’m on the phone with you.” (Please note, I’m not usually that snippy, but I was going to sleep in, and at that moment realized I was going to have to face the world - and potential sources - with unbrushed teeth. My grandfather was a dentist. I get it honest.)

Within 10 minutes or so I’m around the block - about the same time as the fire truck, but it had to get through the now majorly clogged Belair/Henry intersection. (Apparently the gas station was roped off too, getting a new sign and all.) Cones went up after me - blocking Henry at Linhigh.

From this point in the post I’ll keep it simple, “hard news” style:

On March 30, at 9:30 a.m., Henry Avenue resident Shelby Schwing, 64, was turning left off Belair Road onto Henry Avenue when she allegedly struck a car driven by 28-year-old Kristen Snowden of Canoga Place (Fullerton), pushing the vehicle into a truck parked at the business on the corner.

Schwing, according to police, lost control of her vehicle, and drove down Henry Avenue (20 houses - I counted), and collided with a BGE pole and a small tree in the yard of 41 Henry (across from Marion Avenue) before coming to rest on top of a chainlink fence and grazing another car in the driveway of 43 Henry.

Both Schwing and Snowden were taken to hospitals via ambulance; Snowden to Bayview where a public relations specialist said the hospital had “no patient by that name” (which either means she was treated and released OR she didn’t sign the HIPPA release that would allow her name to come up on the phone operator’s list), and Schwing to Franklin Square, where a message was left for a PR person, but never returned.

Law enforcement on the scene were treating the second crash as a hit-and-run result of the first, but nearby neighbors who heard it then rushed to help said Schwing’s car, a 2000 Chrystler Concord, malfunctioned. (Bill Toohey, director of communications for the Baltimore County police, said that the results of the investigation will be passed along to the state’s attorney.)

“She said she hit something up the street and the gas pedal stuck and she just kept going faster and faster,” said Connie, who lives across the street at 38 Henry Ave. (I didn’t get her last name - note to self: don’t be afraid to ask.)

Now Connie had just walked her boy to school, she said, and had stayed for a bit to talk to someone. She had been standing at the utility pole less than a minute before the crash while her dog was doing its business.

“I had one step in the door when I heard it and turned around,” she said. “I’ve been shaking from head to toe ever since. … I guess I have good karma today.”

By 2 p.m. a BGE cherry-picker-type truck was replacing the pole but traffic was still blocked from entering Henry or exiting Marion.

(There had been grumbles earlier in the day from a few people about not being able to leave the street because of the downed, but not live, wires. According to neighbors, one woman on the block was about-to-pop pregnant, so wouldn’t that have been a scene? Another needed to get to work and was contemplating using her cell phone camera to get proof of why she couldn’t make it. And there were more grumbles about speeding on the street, and how it should be widened to keep cars from getting side-swiped and/or that speed bumps needed to be installed.)

I seem to be back in “blog” mode now, so I’ll just add this:

I met Mr. Bomono, a Marion Avenue resident, on the scene of the crash. He’s the father-in-law of Leslie Bonomo, who owns the Baltimore County Gymnastics arena over on Allender Road in White Marsh/Loreley with her husband. The Times-Herald tries to run the young gymnasts’ tournament scores as much as possible, since Leslie’s nice enough to send them (And of course we want to give props to the kids!). Which reminds me — you may have noticed a little box in the last few print editions asking that parents and coaches send in photos and scores from their teams’ events? Well, we mean it! We want to hear from you! (Advance notice is good too, because sometimes I get to leave the office and cover things in person!) Either way, send all contributions to ckeffer@timesheraldnews.com. Feel free to send me other stuff too. My inbox is always open!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 10:49 pm and is filed under Community news, Cheryl's Place, Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.