Car Race's Drivers, Spectators Reticent
More Md. Crash Victims Identified

By Daniel de Vise, Rosalind S. Helderman and Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 18, 2008

Investigators in Prince George's County struggled to extract information yesterday from stunned and reluctant witnesses in the clandestine illegal racing community as police identified six of the eight men killed when a car plowed into a crowd at a street race early Saturday.

Authorities appealed to spectators and the two racers to come forward, stressing that the priority was to investigate not the race but the accident. By all accounts, the Ford Crown Victoria that struck the crowd was not involved in the race.

"One of the challenges is to get solid information from people who were present," Police Chief Melvin C. High said. "Sometimes it takes a little time for people to come to terms with it, and then they come forward with information."

County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) said he will meet with officials tomorrow to discuss the investigation and how to gather better intelligence on the illegal racing circuit. "It's all about prevention. It's all about preventing a tragedy like this," he said.

In addition to those killed, at least five spectators were hurt in the incident, which occurred about 3 a.m. when the white sedan drove into the crowd standing in and around Indian Head Highway in Accokeek, said Cpl. Arvel Lewis, a police spokesman.

At the time, the road might have been clouded by the race cars' exhaust and smoke from burning rubber, police have said, and investigators continued yesterday to examine claims that the sedan's lights were off.

The sedan's driver and a passenger, males whose names have not been made public, were also injured. All of those killed were spectators. It ranks as one of the worst accidents caused by a motor vehicle in the Washington region in more than 25 years.

"It was bad," one law enforcement officer said. "It looked like a war zone -- feet and legs all over the road. It was one of the worst I've seen."

Among the dead, police identified Blaine Briscoe, 49, of La Plata; Mark Courtney, 33, of Leonardtown; William Gaines, 61, of Nanjemoy; Ervin Gardner, 39, of Oxon Hill; Maycol Lopez, 20, of Gaithersburg; and Daryl Wills, 38, of Clinton. Relatives said Milton Pinkney, 41, of Aquasco was also killed. The eighth victim remained unidentified pending notification of relatives, authorities said.

Senior county officials said yesterday that they have sought to disrupt the shadowy street racing culture, whose denizens mobilize by cellphone and word of mouth, gather quietly in the dark, watch a race that lasts a few seconds and disperse before police can respond. Officials said racers are elusive and sophisticated, using lookouts and scanners to evade police.

"It's one of these secretive things," Johnson said. "It's a group of people who go around racing. They race in Prince George's, in Charles, anywhere they can find urban or rural roads."

Johnson rejected some community activists' suggestion that police have not been aggressive enough in cracking down on reckless driving in the rural area. Neighbors, however, said they have long complained to police about reckless driving and speeding on Indian Head Highway (Route 210), particularly by motorcyclists in summer.

"This will just be another cry from the wilderness to ask for more police presence, like we've been asking for years," said Accokeek resident Judy Allen-Leventhal, past president of a civic group.

High said police are attentive to complaints from the community about speeding and reckless driving, noting that 5,550 traffic citations are issued in the county each month -- a 25 percent increase, he said, from four years ago.

"People have to take responsibility," he said. "They know this is wrong. They're basically good people who are law-abiding. They have to obey the law in this area as well."

The injured included Craig Simms, 37, of Edgewood, whom police briefly listed as dead; and Gregory Johnson Jr., 15, of Waldorf.

An image emerged yesterday of the victims: not of young street punks but of family men with a fondness for fast cars. Their ages spanned four decades. Gaines -- who went to the race with his son, daughter and 13-year-old granddaughter -- was a construction worker, married for 40 years. Courtney was a groundskeeper at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Pinkney worked for a cement company. Gardner sold car parts.

Lopez went with his girlfriend. They arrived early and napped in his car, according to stepfather Icsael Melgar. At race time, she wanted to sleep, so he left her in the car and went to watch the race with his friends.

"He used to go to races almost every week," Melgar said. "I told him, 'This can't happen anymore.' I know he kept doing it."

People who said they knew the racers or were at the race placed flowers at the crash site yesterday, placing some in the spray-painted circles that marked where bodies, body parts and clothing had fallen.

Irma Harris of Clinton, who had known Gardner for 15 years, stopped by with flowers and balloons. "He was my best male friend," said Harris, 53. "Talked to him about anything and everything."

Also at the site was Gregory Johnson Sr., who said his son was in a Bethesda hospital's intensive-care unit with a broken leg, shattered pelvis and injured spleen, so immobilized that he could only nod his head at questions.

He said his son had told him that he was going to the race with his 18-year-old cousin and promised to call when they were safely headed home. "I never got a phone call back," Johnson said.

His son was hit so hard that his boots flew off his feet, he said.

People who identified themselves as participants in or fans of illegal racing said yesterday that a race can attract as many as 300 spectators and that $10,000 or more can be at stake.

Describing a race last month on Indian Head Highway, one fan said a mechanic parked a tow truck near the starting point, turned on the truck's lights and blocked off traffic, as is typical at races. Like others who described the races, he spoke on the condition of anonymity because the events are illegal.

Farther out in each direction, lookouts watched for police cars and monitored police scanners, he said. If an officer is headed toward a race, he said, race cars are pulled onto trailers. Spectators hop into their cars and disappear.

At Speed Unlimited, a specialty auto-parts store in Suitland, several patrons said races often begin as weekend auto shows in a parking lot alongside a lightly traveled highway or in an industrial park. One racer, who identified himself only as Maverick, showed off an image from a cellphone that appeared to show his speedometer at 135 mph.

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D), who knew two of the victims and represents the district where the crash occurred, said illegal racing has been a pastime in Southern Maryland since he was a child.

"There's not a whole lot of entertainment in Southern Maryland," Miller said, noting that he has heard of races starting over bragging rights in taverns.

Participating in a race or "speed contest" on a highway is five points against a driver's license. Additional charges, including reckless driving or speeding, could bring additional points.

Charles County Commissioner Edith J. Patterson (D-Pomfret) said the crash has "brought to light a subculture" that she did not know existed in her district.

"I think there should be stiffer penalties for this," she said. "There are legitimate places for this to occur."

Patterson said she plans to work with her board, the sheriff's department, state police and the Prince George's County Council to address the problem.

Staff writers Allison Klein, Nelson Hernandez, Annie Gowen, Ovetta Wiggins and Avis Thomas-Lester and staff researcher Rena Kirsch contributed to this report.