HALETHORPE, Md. — You'll rarely find anyone trying to cross I-95 on foot, much less in the middle of the night, but it appears that's what happened early Tuesday in the northbound lanes just south of the exit ramp for I-195 towards BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
"The driver was driving down I-95 when he felt something hit his vehicle,” said Ron Snyder of the Maryland State Police. “He comes to a complete stop, looks over and realizes that there's a victim lying on the shoulder, calls 911."
Paramedics would transport 34-year-old Joel Hopkins of Nottingham to St. Agnes Hospital, but any effort to save his life would prove to be in vain.
It appears Hopkins struck the vehicle on its left side, which suggests he came out of the median of the highway into the car's path.
We spoke with the victim's family, which did not wish to go on camera, and one of their first questions was whether police had found his car nearby.
"There was no other vehicle located at the scene other than the driver or the person who struck him,” said Snyder. “We've ruled out drugs or alcohol or speeding as a factor in the crash, but as far as what led the victim to that location---it's still very early in the investigation and we're trying to find out exactly what happened."
State police have transported the body to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore and are now awaiting the results of an autopsy to see if that sheds any light on this case---a case with so many unanswered questions surrounding Joel Hopkins' death.
