An Abingdon woman and her two daughters were in critical condition Monday afternoon following an early-morning crash at the Abingdon exit of Interstate 95 which closed the highway for approximately four hours.
Denia Weatherby, 36, of Abingdon, and her daughters Jessica, 13, and Marissa, 7, were all listed in critical condition at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, according to Lt. Dan Fairburn, commander of the Maryland State Police JFK Highway Barrack.
Denia and Jessica Weatherby were in critical but stable condition, Fairburn said; Marissa Weatherby was in critical but unstable condition.
Investigators determined that the crash occured at approximately 4:45 a.m. when Weatherby merged onto northbound Interstate 95 from the Abingdon exit. Fairburn said Weatherby was driving too fast for the icy conditions, and slid into the travel lanes of the highway, striking a 2012 Freightliner tractor-trailer driven by Bryant Williams, 44, of Petersburg, Virginia.
The collision caused Weatherby’s vehicle to spin and strike a guardrail before coming to rest in the center lane, where it was hit by a 2003 Cadillac DTS driven by John P. Dobson, 25, of West Grove, Pa.
Dobson sustained non-life threatening injuries in the crash, and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Williams was not injured.
The northbound lanes of Interstate 95 were closed for approximately four hours, Fairburn said, forcing northbound traffic to divert onto Mountain Road. Ensuing backups caused significant delays on Route 40 and Route 7 between Mountain Road and Route 543.
This is the second recent accident with a car on 95 hitting a parked tractor trailer on the side of the road. Why are they allowed to stop there?
It has been reported that the child has since passed away. I pray that isn’t true.
Yeah lets blame the PARKED vehicle not the one that was moving
Where does it say that the tractor trailer was parked? It says the car slid into the travel lanes of NB95 and hit a tractor-trailer driven by Bryant Williams.
It should be illegal that it snows, let’s blame the government, and Bel Air Wal-Mart. Oh, and school teachers.
Initial reports were the truck was parked. After a further investigation it was revealed it was moving
Surely this isn’t the same exit that an officer’s wife struck (and was killed by) a parked tractor and trailer on the shoulder of an exit a few weeks ago….
Maybe there should be a law against them parking on the shoulder of an entrance/exit ramp to an interstate. If it was a ‘rest stop’ for the driver I know its safer than having a tired driver try to drive to an alternate route but maybe they should be required to park on the shoulder of a straight away with their running lights on or something. If it wasn’t a ‘rest stop’ they should be cited and have the thing moved/towed.
With the weather advisory maybe visibility was a factor–I hope the little one pulls through and has a rapid recovery. Thoughts and prayers are with mom too.
This was a different exit
I commute to Abingdon from Timonium. It is against the law for tractor trailers to park on the interstate shoulder for any reason other than an emergency. They were having problems along I-83 a month or so ago and had to get aggressive with ticketing. Maybe they need to start ticketing along I-95 too!
Could have been broken down. Also there’s almost no where for tractor trailer drivers to park and less time that they can drive.
I hope the focus of the investigation is on why the car left the roadway and not why a truck was on the shoulder. The shoulder is there for folks to pull over and deal with momentary issues and or break downs.
Interesting how AAA tells you to pull over to make a call on your cell phone, but it is actually more dangerous to talk on the shoulder than to just talk while driving at speed in the slow lane.
Update…touch and go but as of half hour ago the child’s condition is still grave but stable. That is hopeful.
It literally says right in the article that the tractor trailer was being driven in the travel lanes. Unless the police or dagger are lying and you guys know more…. Why is everyone saying the tractor trailer was parked?
This article has been updated and now states the T/T was being driven. The earler article did not say where the T/A was when the injured parties hit it and peopleon here without a brain jumped to the conclusion that the truck was parked on the shoulder.
The original article stated the car hit a t/t that was on the shoulder of the ramp….
The original article posted about 10am stated the t/t was PARKED on the shoulder of the ramp and the woman swerved and hit the PARKED t/t. This article has been UPDATED (as stated on the hedline in bold letters) several times since then so the earlier postings were in response to the original article.
What is wrong with you people, learn how to read before posting nonsense. Nowhere in this article does it say the truck was parked DUH!
“Fairburn said Weatherby was driving too fast for the icy conditions, and slid into the travel lanes of the highway, striking a 2012 Freightliner driven by Bryant Williams, 44, of Petersburg, Virginia.”
The first reports indicated the car struck a parked tractor trailer. Not sure where that information initially came from – this latest info that the car slid into the already positioned tractor trailer paints a much different scenario.
Calm down, Scott K. The Money Tree is right. I read the article this morning and it said that the tractor trailer was parked on the shoulder. I believe it also said that the vehicle in question was trying to exit 95. Clearly, the information was sketchy at that time. I sure hope everyone involved pulls through and is okay.
This is so sad. Our best to all the accident victims and their families.
Maybe the truck was stopped due to the icy conditions on the roadway.
In the drivers opinion, it may have been safer to be stopped on the shoulder than to be mobile during the icy conditions. If the trucker jack knifed his truck, you all would be quick to blame him for putting other drivers at risk driving in such conditions.
bozos!
If it was too icy for a car, what chance does a big rig have?
Who cares what the truck was doing. The car hit the truck!
When will these women learn to SLOW down, makes me sick to think of those poor kids!!!
Yea seriously-who allowed ALL THESE WOMEN to have a dl anyway?!? Shouldn’t they be at home in the kitchen?!? Sorry To be the one to break it to ya Paul but accidents don’t see gender. I hope this poor mother gets to leave the hospital with both her children because it would make ME SICK to think that she might possibly have to live the rest of her life without her baby girl. Think before you speak.
To be clear: initial reports from the Maryland State Police JFK Barracks indicated that the tractor-trailer was parked on the side of the highway; later updates corrected that to the above scenario.
Women slow down? Are you serious? How about EVERYONE should slow down when conditions are icy. I feel for this family and hope for the best.
I’m never disappointed by the ridiculous comments left on the Dagger… people are absolutely stupid, can’t or won’t read, like to place blame, and heck the next thing someone will suggest is that they charge the mother for some sort of responsibility for the accident. Do simple accidents not exist any longer in the world? Can’t something, anything ever happen that was simply no one’s fault? Just a very sad fateful happening that could only be avoided by not living and doing what one needs to do? Anyone else see how this blame and finger pointing BS has become out of control?
No, all accidents do have a reason or fault behind them. It may not be apparent and many factors may be involved. All accidents are preventable
LOL! All accidents are preventable… in a perfect world.
Ok Pissed At Government if all accidents are preventable tell that to a deer you idiot. Why don’t you start putting up stop signs at deer trails so they know to stop and look both ways before crossing the road.
It’s such a shame most of you have to post such negative comments whether it was about the woman or the tractor trailer. Why can’t you have a heart and pray for this woman and her children along with anyone else involved in this accident. Imagine how this woman will feel if she were to lose her children and see what you have said about her. Don’t you think she feels bad enough. I guess none of you have ever mademistakes. Shame on you all.
The truck was not parked even it was was she should of had full control of her car. People need to quit fighting and pray for this family. you all are adults grow up, accidents happen.
so who are you blaming here.
I know a person very close to this family and the youngest daughter has died. Its a terrible tragedy. Regardless of the situation or factors involved in this accident, there has been a terrible tragedy with the loss of a young girl. Our prayers should go out to the family and friends. Mine do.
As of just after 9 p.m., word from MSP was that the conditions of the mother and two girls had not changed from what’s reported above. If a law enforcement authority updates that information, we’ll pass it along.
I truly apologize for my last post which was in haste. I just spoke to the family friend and the youngest is on life support. It’s a waiting game at this point.
I am a close friend of the lady who got in the accident. I agree that sometimes things just happen. She is an extremely hard working single mother who gives her life for her girls (and is extremely responsible). Please be sensitive to the situation. This is a real mother who is potentially going to lose her daughter who may be your neighbor.
I’m on the same page as you are. My best friend is her cousin and I met the mother at her wedding and spent a whole week with her. She is such an amazing woman. This is heart breaking!
Olivia
Please remember that schools were delay due to icey conditions. No one takes in account that the working class has to hit that clock or be faulted at there job.
What happened here and in the parked tractor trailer accident is very sad, however, everyone is very quick to blame the tractor trailers. Those men and women are out driving for hours on end when wouldn’t you rather them pull over during those night time hours vs driving and causing more accidents? How do you not see a tractor trailer? Why do people make it a point to not travel in the lanes with them? Why are drivers so fast to pass them and not give them respect on the roads, espcially highways? Tractor trailers play a huge role in our economy and delievery our goods all over as a service to our society. Bottom line why does everyone want to always put blame on the tractor trailers? I think people need to blame the others moving at extremely fast rates of speed, not the trucks that can hardly move more than 70 mph. In this case the weather played a very large role and the car just so happen to hit the truck, but come on drivers, pay attention and place the blame where it needs to be placed on the vehicals driving out of control!
To be fair, I don’t think anyone was blaming the tractor trailer, especially when they realized it wasn’t parked on the shoulder and was actually driving. The DOT puts forth very specific guidelines as to how many hours these drivers should be driving, when they should rest, and for how long. I’m sure you know this. Lastly, based on my personal experience (I commute from Abingdon to the city every day), some of these truck drivers are NOT safe. I’ve seen huge trucks going way too fast and switching lanes to get around slower cars, so I think it goes both ways. Bottom line, we should respect everyone else on the road with us regardless of what type of vehicle (or “vehical” if you don’t own a dictionary) they’re driving.
I am not really sure why you had to be nasty…i was simply commenting just like anyone else!
I don’t think I was nasty until I pointed out your mis-spelling. But I couldn’t help it. It made me cringe. I just wanted you to know that no one is blaming the truck driver since you went on this rant about how we should respect truck drivers. You said they perform a “service to our society,” but don’t most people who have a job do that? My company provides a service to society, just a very different one. I respect anyone who works and isn’t on unemployment gobbling up the money the government takes out of my hard-earned paycheck; truck drivers included.
Drivers in Maryland should learn how to drive!!! Why do you think there so much construction to change roadways.
Ok then where do hale from? The reason for road construction is to maximize all the f***ing traffic that rolls through this state. Which if you didn’t notice is small and connects to major metropolitan areas.
I know the mother personally and this is tragic. Marissa, the 7 year, passed yesterday, she was on life support but she was already gone. My best friends mother is heading there now. Can we all just have hope and pray for the family that is going through this right now?
Why do you post if all you want us to do is pray? You’re no better than anybody else on this thread.
JERK!
@Olivia, I was at the hospital last night until around 8:00 and Marissa was still alive, on life support. According to Denia’s facebook posts today she is still on life support. I know at least as of a couple of hours ago, Marissa was still alive.
Update, 9:30 p.m. Tues. Jan. 29: According to MSP, as of 3 p.m. today there had been no change in her status.
As time goes on and this becomes a medical treatment issue, it may be somewhat more difficult for us to get official, accurate info; however, we’ll keep asking and update as we’re able due to the significant local interest in the accident.
Also she LOST CONTROL because of the ice….then hit the trailer. It was an accident.
Driving to fast for conditions leading to an accident. This was a preventable accident, the driver could had delayed travel until weather conditions improved, or lowered speed to compensate for given weather conditions
Do you realize what an oxymoron “preventable accident” is since an accident is defined as an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance? Just for hoots, let’s use the word “mistake” instead. If I had to guess, I’d say you’ve probably made a couple hundred mistakes in your life, just like anyone else. I’m sure if Denia could take back this “mistake,” she would in a heartbeat. How dare you come on here and place blame when you have NO idea what the circumstances of the ACCIDENT were? Nowhere does it state that she was driving too fast.
Sends like an organ donor.
i knew this family , Sadly to say Marissa, 7 . has passed away from brain damage . she will be missed. my prayers go out to her family
I am so sorry to hear of what has happen. Was so sad last month a mother of five son’s passed away from hitting a truck exiting I95 partly due to fog . Now with the icy roads a child has passed away (Marissa) and her mother Denia & sister Jessica are in very bad cond. The weather has played a big part in both of these crashes, instead of pointing the finger of who was in the right or wrong !! Keep the family in your prayers., that Denia & Jessica pulls through this and help them to deal with the loss of their daughter & sister. Very sad & heart breaking !!
Prayers should be said for this family as they so desperately need them. In this world of suffering and pain, let us show compassion for others.
im not a friend of theirs but my best friend is and i have recently heard that yes she has died , may she rest in peace and all pray
I am the father of the little girls and ex husband of the women involved in the accident. I think the facts are it was an accident regardless of what you think or heard and I would just like to state that please have some compassion and respect the family and whatever happened to privacy. I think that there is way more information on this website about this then there needs to be and anyone who has ever had to deal with a situation like this knows exactly were I am coming from.