Interstate 95 in January apparently had a heart attack or other sudden
medical problem that caused him to lose control of his truck, according to
a report released today on the fiery crash that claimed four lives.
Investigators for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police found
no evidence of serious mechanical defects with the tanker, which had passed
an inspection one week before the accident shut down I-95 near Elkridge for
seven hours Jan. 13.
“The evidence indicates that the driver of [the tanker] experienced a
sudden cardiac event or other type of medical emergency, thus explaining
why he failed to maintain control over the vehicle,” the report concluded.
The report notes that the autopsy of tanker driver Jackie M. Frost,
64, found evidence of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, tire marks left
on the overpass showed that brakes had not been applied before the crash,
and a witness reported seeing Frost slumped forward over the wheel.
“It really is the totality of the circumstances,” said transportation
authority police Chief Gary W. McLhinney at a press conference this
morning. “The results were based not just on the medical examiner’s report.
They’re based on witness statements, the physical evidence.”
He said investigators can never be 100 percent sure what happened, but
he added, “There was absolutely no evidence of a mechanical failure.”
A Maryland State Police summary of Frost’s autopsy stated that he had
“a history of severe heart disease” and a blockage to his heart that could
have led to a cardiac event or blood clot. The state police assisted the
transportation authority in the crash probe.
Interstate truck drivers are required to pass physicals every two
years. The company that employed Frost said yesterday that all of its
drivers are in compliance with that regulation. The company, Petro-Chemical
Transport of Addison, Texas, declined further comment.
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But Frost’s wife continues to believe that a mechanical defect led to
the crash. In an interview yesterday from her home in Finksburg, Geri Frost
said she and her husband worked out regularly in their home gym and saw
doctors frequently — one for holistic therapy and another for physicals.
“My husband was in good health. He passed his physicals every year,”
she said. “He used to brag about how he had a runner’s pulse. He was in
good shape.” But a source close to the investigation said the evidence,
taken in its entirety, clearly points to a medical event.
The state’s 67-page report details an accident sequence that begins
with the tanker’s rear end sliding over the Jersey wall on the I-895 bridge
over I-95 and ends with an enormous fireball that melted tires and burned
the lane markings off the highway.
Investigators constructed a narrative of both the crash and the events
leading to it. Frost began work Jan. 13 at 7 a.m., the report said,
delivering 7,600 gallons of diesel fuel to Landover. He ate lunch in
Baltimore, at Paik’s Chinese restaurant, where he locked his keys in his
truck. A mechanic helped him unlock it.
After lunch, Frost went to the Citgo Fueling Terminal in south
Baltimore. He loaded 8,803 gallons of premium gasoline into his
9,200-gallon tanker. He saw an old friend, another tanker driver, who told
investigators that Frost appeared in good health.
“To all that saw him that day, it appeared that he was having a normal
day and there was nothing that would make them draw any other conclusions,”
the report said.
Frost signed a receipt for the fuel he picked up at 2:07 p.m. He
headed west on Interstate 895 from the terminal. His destination was a
Citgo station at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
According to the report, witnesses said the tanker was moving
erratically as it approached I-95. And McLhinney said today that a woman
saw Frost slumped forward over the wheel of his tanker about three-tenths
of a mile before the tanker fell from the overpass. The witness was able to
accurately describe Frost’s clothing and facial features to investigators,
who deemed her account credible.
As the tanker approached the overpass, it quickly shifted from the
left lane to the right lane and onto the shoulder. As it reached the
overpass, the trailer began to jackknife. The rear of the tanker moved to
the right, sliding up and onto the Jersey wall.
The tanker straddled the wall and then slid downward, rear-end first,
toward I-95 below. Eventually, the trailer was hanging straight down
perpendicular to the highway, pulling the cab up off the overpass. The
force was so great that the cab separated from the trailer, and they both
fell to the highway.
“As the tanker struck the ground, it immediately exploded into a large
fireball,” the report said. “The gasoline and flames spread across all
lanes of the Interstate, up to the [Interstate] 895 bridge.”
The tanker hit a tractor-trailer driven by Rita Ann Gall of Myrtle
Beach, S.C., and a taxicab driven by Marc Baladi of Baltimore. The tanker
crushed Gall’s trailer, which contained Reebok medicine balls, and the cab
compartment. Knocked unconscious, Gall lost control of her truck.
Both Gall, 42, and Baladi, 63, were killed.
Traveling about 300 feet behind Gall was Ronald Grow in a truck with
an empty flatbed trailer. The report said Grow saw the collision with the
tanker, couldn’t stop to avoid the flames and drove through them. His truck
was hit by Gall’s, and he leapt from his still-moving vehicle.
Grow looked back as he ran and “all that he could see was the fire and
the lights and the grill of his truck,” the report said. Grow, 35, of
Windber, Pa., was not injured. But the wheels of his truck were melted;
investigators found it on its rims.
The final vehicle involved was a red Chevrolet pickup truck driven by
Maurice Durschlag of Glen Burnie. Durschlag was behind Grow, and he, too,
couldn’t stop before he entered the fire. Durschlag’s pickup hit the rear
of Grow’s flatbed, began to rotate counterclockwise and then flipped back
over front, such that the rear of the pickup was upside down on the
flatbed.
As the flatbed melted in the fire, the pickup fell to the ground and
its roof was crushed. Durschlag, 62, was trapped and died in the fire.
No criminal or traffic charges will be filed in the case, the report
said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the
crash. An NTSB spokesman said yesterday that the board does not comment on
the investigations of other agencies. The NTSB’s own report is not expected
until next year.
Sun staff writer Athima Chansanchai contributed to this article.