Car Wreck

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A Harpers Ferry man who pleaded guilty to driving under the influence causing death in a 1997 car wreck that claimed the life of a Virginia woman will serve from one to 10 years in prison, officials said. On New Year's Eve 1997, a 1994 Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by Clinton W. Cavender, 39, of Route 4, traveled off Chestnut Hill Road near Harpers Ferry and struck a tree, according to Jefferson County Circuit Court records. The truck returned to the road and struck a 1984 Buick Skylark head-on, according to court records.

HANCOCK - A 74-year-old Cheverly, Md., man was pulled from his burning car by passers-by early Friday after he ran off westbound Interstate 70 near the Md. 615 exit, Maryland State Police said. Ralph Esposito was sitting on the ground wrapped in a blanket when Trooper First Class C.J. Barnard arrived on the scene just minutes after the 7:33 a.m. accident, police said. "The front end of his 1996 Lincoln Town Car was engulfed in flames when I got there," Barnard said. Esposito apparently fell asleep and ran off the right side of the road, police said.

By LAURA ERNDE Staff Writer Princess Diana would have had a better chance of survival had her car wreck happened in Hagerstown, claims Dr. Marc E. Kross, trauma director at Washington County Hospital. "Everyone laughs at me when I say that, but I'm telling you she might have lived," Kross said. Washington County Hospital was designated a Level II Trauma Center in January by the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. Only about 10 rural hospitals in the country have received such a high level of certification, Kross said.

ST. THOMAS, Pa. - A Fannettsburg, Pa., man was killed early Thursday after losing control of his car on an icy road and striking a tree, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Randall Lamar Williams, 29, was traveling east at 6:34 a.m. on Race Track Road near Hade Road in St. Thomas Township when he lost control of his 1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse on the ice. The car spun around and slid off the road, striking a tree, police said. Williams was flown to York (Pa.) Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:12 a.m., police said.

By JENNYLYNN BROWN Staff Writer CLEAR SPRING - A Cumberland, Md., teenager and a Oxon Hill, Md., man died Sunday of injuries they sustained in a car wreck on Interstate 70 near Hagerstown Saturday night, Washington County Hospital and Maryland State Police officials said. Keysha Carol Foster, 17, of 12D Jane Frazier Village, died before 1 p.m. Sunday, hospital officials said. Foster was the passenger in a 1988 Mercury Tracer driven by Michael Andre Robinson, 21, of Oxon Hill.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Two people were seriously injured early Sunday in a car wreck on Interstate 81 at the 19 mile marker, said West Virginia State Police. Velma Twigg, 60, of Groton, N.Y., was driving north about 4:15 a.m. when the car ran off the road, struck a guardrail and overturned, police said. Passenger Cecil Twigg, age unavailable, also of Groton, was thrown from the car during the wreck, police said. Cecil Twigg was taken to City Hospital in Martinsburg and then flown to Fairfax Hospital in Virginia in critical condition, police said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - No one was injured when a Berkeley County school bus and a car collided on Mount Olive Road Thursday, according to West Virginia State Police. Sgt. Jim Humphrey said he didn't know if there were any children on the bus driven by Sandra Bruglio, 53, of Martinsburg. A 1988 Chevrolet Nova driven by Janet C. Weir, 44, of Route 4, Martinsburg, collided with the bus about 2:45 p.m., Humphrey said. Mount Olive Road is located off W.Va. 9 just east of Martinsburg.

By KERRY LYNN FRALEY Staff Writer BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - Two Berkeley County, W.Va., women died Sunday afternoon after a freight train loaded with coal struck their car as they were leaving a riverside campground in the Sleepy Creek area. The collision occurred at an unmarked private railroad crossing between River Road and the Sleepy Creek on the Potomac campground at about 2 p.m., according to West Virginia State Police. The two women, Patricia Delaney, 53, of Hedgesville, W.Va.