Driver Sentenced In Deadly Columbia Road Crash

ELLICOTT CITY, MD - A man who pleaded guilty to negligent homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence was sentenced to four years in prison followed by probation, the Howard County State's Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.

At the time of the crash in September 2016, the driver was on probation for a July 2013 driving while impaired offense in Carroll County.

Police said that Daniel Cody Lipscomb, 25, of the unit block of Fairground Road in Taneytown, was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Cruz that hit a tree on Columbia Road at Hemlock Cone Way around 3 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2016.

His passenger - Audrey Elizabeth Birmingham, 21, of Baltimore - was in the front seat with extensive injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene, according to authorities.

An officer noticed a strong smell of alcohol inside the vehicle and slurred speech coming from Lipscomb, who was lying on his back outside the vehicle, the Howard County state's attorney's office reported.

Lipscomb and Birmingham had been drinking with a group of friends at DePaola's Pub in Arbutus before the crash, he allegedly told police once he was taken to the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.

Bloodwork at shock trauma showed that he had a blood alcohol level of 0.12, above the legal limit of 0.08, according to Assistant State's Attorney Tricia Cecil.

Related: Passenger Killed, Driver Hospitalized After Crash into Tree

Judge Richard S. Bernhardt sentenced Lipscomb on Tuesday to five years in prison with one year suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation.

Upon his release, Lipscomb will have to use an ignition interlock for two years; complete a drug and alcohol education program; abstain from alcohol, illegal substances and abuse of prescription drugs; and submit to random urinalysis, according to court records.

File photo by Elizabeth Janney.