Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
A 61-year-old woman was struck and killed recently in a pedestrian-car accident on Sudbrook Lane in Pikeville. According to reports, the local resident was walking eastbound along the westbound side of the road when an SUV reportedly hit her from behind just before three o’clock in the afternoon. Based on news reports, it seems that the vehicle had to cross over into the westbound lane in order to strike the pedestrian. Police reports show that the vehicle did not stop.
As Maryland personal injury and auto accident lawyers, our firm is able to represent victims and their families in situations such as this one. Based on the time of day, it is highly unlikely that conditions led to the SUV driver killing this person. Unless some sort of steering or tire failure occurred, the situation points more to driver inattention, or worse, a case of impaired driving.
According news reports, Baltimore County Police have charged a 39-year-old Lochearn man with the hit-and-run accident that killed Jessica Robins Jones on that October 12 afternoon. Investigators stated that the victim was walking eastbound on Sudbrook Lane near Glenback Avenue. Police also said that the driver, Lonnie Becoat III, never stopped. Jones was taken to Sinai Hospital where she later died.
Reportly, Becoat turned himself in the following morning at the Pikesville Precinct after seeing coverage of the story on the news. According to police, he told investigators that the vehicle he was driving belonged to his neighbor, from whom he borrowed it on Monday to go to the store.
Police had responded to the address given and found a 2005 Chevy Equinox with damage to the windshield and front driver’s side bumper and fender. Becoat allegedly told officers that he never saw Jones, and remembered something hitting the windshield. Police reports state that following the crash, Becoat returned the vehicle to his neighbor and told him that a tree branch had fallen and broken the windshield.
Police have charged the man with driving with a suspended license, failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing injury, and failing to render aid after being involved in an accident. At the time of the report, Becoat was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center, in Towson, on $750,000 bond.
Lochearn man arrested in fatal hit-and-run, ExploreBaltimoreCounty.com, October 14, 2009