TANEYTOWN, Md. — Maryland State Police are continuing to investigate a Friday afternoon car crash that left a 72-year-old woman dead.
Around 2:25 p.m., a deadly crash happened on Taneytown Pike or Route 140, just west of South Pleasant Valley Road. The preliminary investigation reveals an orange 2005 Mazda 6, driven by 63-year-old Ronnie Howard, was traveling westbound on Taneytown Pike when, for reasons unknown, his car crossed over the sold white line to the right, onto the westbound shoulder, and struck a guard rail.
From there, Howard's vehicle proceeded back into the westbound lane of travel and continued across the yellow line of the roadway and into the eastbound lane of Route 140.
Once in the eastbound lane, the Mazda 6 hit a red 2012 Ford Focus head-on. Both vehicles then continued to the eastbound shoulder of the roadway and eventually came to a stop.
Due to her injures, the driver of the Ford Focus, 72-year-old Patricia McCloskey, was pronounced dead on the scene. Howard was taken to R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and McCloskey's passenger, 89-year-old Betty Louise King, was transported to Carroll Hospital Center for evaluation.
The primary investigators, Trooper First Class Klinger and Corporal Lantz, are still investigating, so if you have any information on this accident, please contact Corporal Lantz of the Maryland State Police Crash Team at (410) 386-3000.
