Teen Survives For a Week After Car Runs Off Road in MD

A pretty remarkable story out of Beltsville, MD Saturday evening. A Bowie State student who has been missing for a week has been found alive. He had been involved in a car crash. The car had gone off the road and apparently he was only now able to get himself up to the road to get help.

Read the story from The Washington Post here.

The press release from PGFD’s Mark Brady is below. The pictures are from Chief Al Schwartz of Beltsville VFD and you can see more of them here.

Just after 6:00 PM, Saturday, September 8, 2007, Fire/EMS units from the Beltsville area were alerted to an injured person on the side of the road. Several Good Samaritans witnessed an injured teenager on the side of the road waving his arms, obviously injured, and contacted 911. Beltsville Engine Company 31, Ambulance 319 and a paramedic unit from College Park Station 12 responded to the intersection of Powder Mill Road and Soil Conservation Road and arrived quickly to find an 18-year-old male with injuries to his head, lower extremities and suffering from dehydration. The injured teen stated that he had been involved in a single vehicle crash over 7 days ago and was just able to crawl through a creek bed, under a bridge and up an embankment to the road. His crash was apparently not witnessed and his car, a Honda Civic, could not be seen from the road. EMT’s and Paramedics treated and packaged the male for transport, via US Park Police Eagle 1 Helicopter, to an area trauma center for treatment. His injuries are serious, however, not considered life threatening. By-standers assisted the injured teen in contacting his parents on a cell phone from the scene. The male had departed Bowie State University last week en route to the University of Maryland to meet a friend. He never arrived and the family filed a missing persons report generating a search for the missing 18-year-old.

Here is the press release from U.S. Park Police Sgt. Robert Lachance:

Missing Person Found

On Saturday, September 08, 2007, at approximately 6:08 p.m., the United States Park Police were notified of a person lying on the side of Powder Mill Road, east of the Baltimore Washington Parkway. When the officer arrived it was determined that the person was involved in a motor vehicle crash. The silver Honda Civic with Maryland registration he was driving was found overturned at the bottom of the bridge in the creek. It was not immediately visible from the roadway.

The United States Park Police is investigating this incident. They are looking for witnesses who may have further information regarding this incident. The United States Park Police Tipline is (202) 610-8737.