Man Dies When His Car Rear-Ends Tractor-Trailer: Police

CROFTON, MD — A Chesapeake Beach man died Thursday night when his car struck the rear of a parked tractor-trailer on Crain Highway (Route 3), according to the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

The police and county firefighters responded at 11 p.m. to the scene of the accident on northbound Crain Highway at Carver Road in Crofton, where they found Andrew Bryan Smith, 28, the driver of a 2008 Chevy Malibu, the police said. Smith was ejected from his car when it hit the truck, and Fire Department personnel declared him dead at the scene.

The police said that alcohol and speed did not appear to be factors in the collision.

The Police Department's Traffic Safety Section is investigating the accident, but the police said it appears that the Chevy Malibu was moving north on Crain Highway when it drifted onto the shoulder of the road. The car then struck the rear of the unoccupied truck, a 2000 Freightliner road tractor, which was parked next to a Royal Farms convenience store.

"The tractor trailer was correctly lit at the time with parking lights on and hazard lights flashing," the police said in a statement. "The impact tore open the roof and side of the Chevy, ejecting the driver."

Smith was the only person in the car at the time of the collision. His body was taken to a medical examiner’s office in Baltimore for an autopsy, the police said.