Driver, 19, Passenger, 21, Killed in Pickup Crash

A 19-year-old driver and his 21-year-old passenger were killed early yesterday when a pickup truck struck two trees on Mountain Road in Pasadena, Anne Arundel County police said.

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The driver, Jason T. Coburn, and Michael Joseph Medura, both of Pasadena, died at the scene, police said. Bob Mosier, an Anne Arundel schools spokesman, said that Coburn had graduated from Chesapeake High School in Pasadena last year and that Medura had graduated in 2005.

Police said speed and alcohol are believed to have been factors in the crash. Sgt. Sara Shriver, a police spokeswoman, said she could provide no additional details because the accident remains under investigation.

Coburn is at least the 13th teenager to die in the Washington area in a little more than a month in crashes involving teen drivers. According to police, alcohol is believed to have been a factor in at least one more of those collisions, a Nov. 11 crash in Prince William County.

Anne Arundel police, who were called to the scene shortly after 2 a.m., said the 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup was eastbound on Mountain Road, near Meehling Road, when it went out of control on a curve. The truck hit one tree and then another before it came to rest in a residential yard in the 4400 block of Mountain Road, police said.

"Both of the vehicle's occupants had to be extricated from the wreckage using advanced extrication tools by fire personnel," police said.

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.