Woman Dies in Truck Accident

Husband Also Hurt as Couple Walked in Construction Zone

A 74-year-old Germantown woman died yesterday after she and her husband were hit by a dump truck at a construction site while walking to their home about a mile away, Montgomery County police said.

Yunshu Li of the 13000 block of Falconcrest Road died where she was hit about 12:50 p.m. in a southbound lane of Germantown Road, just south of Clopper Road, police said. Her husband, Xiufeng Wang, 78, was in serious but stable condition last night at Suburban Hospital, police said.

They were walking in a lane that was closed to traffic while large trucks and equipment used it as part of a construction area for a fire station, police said. The dump truck's driver was backing up when he hit the couple, police said. The truck's backup alarm was working, said police Sgt. Meredith Dominick.

The truck driver, identified as Jack Bowers, 33, of the 5000 block of Rickell Road in Taneytown, Md., stopped immediately and called 911 from a cellphone, Dominick said. The truck's door was lettered with "Hakes Contracting" of Germantown. A message left at the phone number on the truck was not returned.

Police said no charges have been filed; the accident remains under investigation.

A woman who answered the phone at Bowers's home last night said he did not want to comment.

Before the couple were struck, Dominick said, a backhoe operator nearby had seen them walk by and, concerned that they were too close to flying debris, stopped his equipment to let them pass.

The couple's neighbors said they lived with an adult daughter, son-in-law and at least one grandchild. A teenager at the home yesterday afternoon said his mother was in China and his father was at the hospital.

Neighbors said they often saw the couple walking to a Giant grocery store on Clopper Road. Li tended a garden, sharing vegetables with neighbors. Although the couple had trouble communicating, neighbors said, they were always friendly. "He knew a little English but was hard of hearing," said Connie Guerra, a neighbor. "She heard fine but didn't speak English."

Montgomery police are asking anyone who witnessed the accident to call investigators at 301-840-2435.

Staff writer Dan Morse and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.