BERLIN– A police investigation into a fatal car crash on Route 113 on Nov. 8 blamed dark clothing, poor visibility and failure to yield to the right of way to vehicles for the death of teenager Tymeir Deonta Montece Dennis.
Dennis and his 18-year-old brother, Tyheym Demargo-Montel Bowen, were walking from Uncle Willie’s convenience store on 111 Flower Street at approximately 8:02 p.m. when they were struck by 22-year-old Maryland State Trooper Nicholas Richard Hager who was driving an unmarked 2009 Ford Crown Victoria, according to the report.
The Bayside Gazette obtained the full investigation report by filing a state Public Information Act request with the Maryland State Police.
Bowen sustained a broken leg, dislocated right knee, fractured pelvis, a cut on his right lower leg and abrasions on his right arm. He was taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center and then to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Dennis was pronounced dead at Atlantic General Hospital after suffering massive injuries to his head, back and other areas of his body.
The circumstances of the accident, according to investigative records, involved clear weather conditions. In addition, it found no indication of defects in the road or the traffic signal where the brothers began to cross the highway. The report also said the intersection was “dimly lit with two overhead lamps at opposite corners.”
Trooper First Class Charles Gore from the Easton Office Crash Team of the Maryland State Police, who signed the report, wrote that, “Mr. Dennis and Mr. Bowen were observed by their mom, Tynise Bowen, who was stopped at a traffic light on southbound U.S. Route 113 waiting to turn left on Bay Street. Ms. Bowen tried to speak to her sons at which time they proceeded towards Ms. Bowen.”
“At the Uncles store I saw my two sons walking across the parking lot,” Bowen wrote in a witness statement. “I waited for (them) to get up to the shoulder and ask them where they were going. Their response was, ‘Huh.’ They both looked both ways then proceeded across the rode (sic). I being a mother looked to (sic) and seen headlights up by the Stephen Decatur Park.”
Prior to crossing the street Gore wrote “Both Ms. Bowen and Mr. Bowen … observed headlights from the approaching car. Mr. Bowen and Mr. Dennis proceeded to cross the travel lanes. Both Mr. Bowen and Mr. Dennis were wearing dark colored clothing that contained little to no reflectivity.”
Hager, traveling north on the highway had recently cleared a traffic stop a mile and a half away at Hayes Landing Road. The state’s speed analysis concluded Hager was traveling at approximately 57 mph.
Tynise Bowen said, “As they got across, I asked again (where they were going). They said, ‘we are going’ and they were close enough to give me a response … before I seen headlights and crash.”
Hager’s said in his statement to investigators that the road was “extremely dark during this time and visibility was limited to the illumination of periodic street and vehicle lighting.”
He said he was “startled by a quick glimpse of something which appeared from nowhere out of the darkness directly in my lane of travel. This glimpse came without notice and I immediately attempted to take evasive action by applying my brakes and attempting to steer away from this object in my lane of travel. However; this object contacted my patrol vehicle and it was not until this time I was able to identify this sudden startling flash as being pedestrians.”
Hager said he notified the Berlin barrack of the Md. State Police and requested medical assistance. His driver’s side door jammed, he kicked the door open with his feet. “Traffic was abruptly slowing and swerving around the scene and I was in fear of getting struck,” he said. Hager said he “made contact with the first pedestrian and attempted to render aid.”
Tynise Bowen said she jumped out of her car, “and hollered and screamed for help. At that time one son was responding and the other I didn’t see or here (sic) from. I didn’t know. The impact sent him further than I thought.”
Hager said Bowen approached him and asked if her sons would be okay. “I responded by advising I did not know and she stated this would not have happened if they were paying attention and not talking to her,” Hager said, adding that both victims were wearing dark clothing. “Their clothing blended in to the darkness of the night making it virtually impossible to identify they were in the roadway,” he told investigators.
According to the report, Bowen was wearing blue jeans and a black jacket. Dennis wore a pair of green camouflage pants and a dark-colored shirt and jacket. The report also said 3.27 grams of suspected marijuana were found inside of the front left pocket of the camouflage pants.
Tynise Bowen told Gore her sons were standing “on the grass at the edge of the roadway and about even with the start of the guardrail,” according to the report. Tyheim Bowen also told Gore he and his brother had, “crossed the road and had stopped on the edge of the roadway.”
Gore said forensic evidence, including a lack of grass stains or dirt on two pairs of shoes recovered, indicated the boys, “were not standing on the grass at the time of the crash.”
“Based on the interview with Ms. Bowen and Mr. Dennis both stated that they saw headlights approaching the area of the Stephen Decatur Park,” Gore wrote. “Mr. Dennis and Mr. Bowen would have had to walk at least 29 feet from the edge of the asphalt to the center of lane #1. Based on the average walking speed of 5.4 feet per second, it would have then taken Mr. Bowen and Mr., Dennis approximately 5.3 seconds to walk 29 feet.
“I was unable to locate any evidence to indicate that the patrol car traveled into the grass or dirt during the collision event,” Gore continued, adding that evidence suggested the front left corner of the car struck Tyheim Bowen, sending him onto “the grass median near the beginning of the guard rail.
“Based on … evidence, I was able to rule out that the vehicle itself did not travel into the grass median during the collision,” Gore wrote.
Gore said the evidence placed Dennis “as much as 2.3 feet … into lane #1” (the fast lane next to the median).
“Based upon the totality of the investigation I find both Mr. Bowen and Mr. Dennis crossed the roadway knowing that there was a vehicle approaching their location,” Gore wrote. “They were wearing dark colored clothing making themselves very hard to be seen and, of course, reducing the amount of time for anyone to react to them being in the roadway and therefore finding that they failed to yield the right-of-way to vehicles traveling on U.S. Route 113 in accordance with the Maryland Transportation Article 21, Section 503 titled: crossing other than crosswalk.”
A supplemental report said Dianna M. Williams of 320 Bay Street contacted police on June 27 saying she “saw two persons standing in the grass median talking to a person in a minivan” on Nov. 8. She did not, however, see the accident itself.
Williams told police she was in her home sewing when she heard the brothers talking about seeing a movie at the Globe Theater. She turned off her sewing machine, walked downstairs and heard a crash report over a police scanner. Williams said she ran outside to see if she could help and “saw one person laying near the edge of where the guardrail begins in the grass median but did not see the other person.”
Williams, whose residence is approximately 180 feet from where Tynise Bowen’s minivan was parked during the investigation, said she did not come forward earlier because she “did not want to get involved and that she did not see the crash itself.”
The case is officially closed.
Dennis and his 18-year-old brother, Tyheym Demargo-Montel Bowen, were walking from Uncle Willie’s convenience store on 111 Flower Street at approximately 8:02 p.m. when they were struck by 22-year-old Maryland State Trooper Nicholas Richard Hager who was driving an unmarked 2009 Ford Crown Victoria, according to the report.
The Bayside Gazette obtained the full investigation report by filing a state Public Information Act request with the Maryland State Police.
Bowen sustained a broken leg, dislocated right knee, fractured pelvis, a cut on his right lower leg and abrasions on his right arm. He was taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center and then to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Dennis was pronounced dead at Atlantic General Hospital after suffering massive injuries to his head, back and other areas of his body.
The circumstances of the accident, according to investigative records, involved clear weather conditions. In addition, it found no indication of defects in the road or the traffic signal where the brothers began to cross the highway. The report also said the intersection was “dimly lit with two overhead lamps at opposite corners.”
Trooper First Class Charles Gore from the Easton Office Crash Team of the Maryland State Police, who signed the report, wrote that, “Mr. Dennis and Mr. Bowen were observed by their mom, Tynise Bowen, who was stopped at a traffic light on southbound U.S. Route 113 waiting to turn left on Bay Street. Ms. Bowen tried to speak to her sons at which time they proceeded towards Ms. Bowen.”
“At the Uncles store I saw my two sons walking across the parking lot,” Bowen wrote in a witness statement. “I waited for (them) to get up to the shoulder and ask them where they were going. Their response was, ‘Huh.’ They both looked both ways then proceeded across the rode (sic). I being a mother looked to (sic) and seen headlights up by the Stephen Decatur Park.”
Prior to crossing the street Gore wrote “Both Ms. Bowen and Mr. Bowen … observed headlights from the approaching car. Mr. Bowen and Mr. Dennis proceeded to cross the travel lanes. Both Mr. Bowen and Mr. Dennis were wearing dark colored clothing that contained little to no reflectivity.”
Hager, traveling north on the highway had recently cleared a traffic stop a mile and a half away at Hayes Landing Road. The state’s speed analysis concluded Hager was traveling at approximately 57 mph.
Tynise Bowen said, “As they got across, I asked again (where they were going). They said, ‘we are going’ and they were close enough to give me a response … before I seen headlights and crash.”
Hager’s said in his statement to investigators that the road was “extremely dark during this time and visibility was limited to the illumination of periodic street and vehicle lighting.”
He said he was “startled by a quick glimpse of something which appeared from nowhere out of the darkness directly in my lane of travel. This glimpse came without notice and I immediately attempted to take evasive action by applying my brakes and attempting to steer away from this object in my lane of travel. However; this object contacted my patrol vehicle and it was not until this time I was able to identify this sudden startling flash as being pedestrians.”
Hager said he notified the Berlin barrack of the Md. State Police and requested medical assistance. His driver’s side door jammed, he kicked the door open with his feet. “Traffic was abruptly slowing and swerving around the scene and I was in fear of getting struck,” he said. Hager said he “made contact with the first pedestrian and attempted to render aid.”
Tynise Bowen said she jumped out of her car, “and hollered and screamed for help. At that time one son was responding and the other I didn’t see or here (sic) from. I didn’t know. The impact sent him further than I thought.”
Hager said Bowen approached him and asked if her sons would be okay. “I responded by advising I did not know and she stated this would not have happened if they were paying attention and not talking to her,” Hager said, adding that both victims were wearing dark clothing. “Their clothing blended in to the darkness of the night making it virtually impossible to identify they were in the roadway,” he told investigators.
According to the report, Bowen was wearing blue jeans and a black jacket. Dennis wore a pair of green camouflage pants and a dark-colored shirt and jacket. The report also said 3.27 grams of suspected marijuana were found inside of the front left pocket of the camouflage pants.
Tynise Bowen told Gore her sons were standing “on the grass at the edge of the roadway and about even with the start of the guardrail,” according to the report. Tyheim Bowen also told Gore he and his brother had, “crossed the road and had stopped on the edge of the roadway.”
Gore said forensic evidence, including a lack of grass stains or dirt on two pairs of shoes recovered, indicated the boys, “were not standing on the grass at the time of the crash.”
“Based on the interview with Ms. Bowen and Mr. Dennis both stated that they saw headlights approaching the area of the Stephen Decatur Park,” Gore wrote. “Mr. Dennis and Mr. Bowen would have had to walk at least 29 feet from the edge of the asphalt to the center of lane #1. Based on the average walking speed of 5.4 feet per second, it would have then taken Mr. Bowen and Mr., Dennis approximately 5.3 seconds to walk 29 feet.
“I was unable to locate any evidence to indicate that the patrol car traveled into the grass or dirt during the collision event,” Gore continued, adding that evidence suggested the front left corner of the car struck Tyheim Bowen, sending him onto “the grass median near the beginning of the guard rail.
“Based on … evidence, I was able to rule out that the vehicle itself did not travel into the grass median during the collision,” Gore wrote.
Gore said the evidence placed Dennis “as much as 2.3 feet … into lane #1” (the fast lane next to the median).
“Based upon the totality of the investigation I find both Mr. Bowen and Mr. Dennis crossed the roadway knowing that there was a vehicle approaching their location,” Gore wrote. “They were wearing dark colored clothing making themselves very hard to be seen and, of course, reducing the amount of time for anyone to react to them being in the roadway and therefore finding that they failed to yield the right-of-way to vehicles traveling on U.S. Route 113 in accordance with the Maryland Transportation Article 21, Section 503 titled: crossing other than crosswalk.”
A supplemental report said Dianna M. Williams of 320 Bay Street contacted police on June 27 saying she “saw two persons standing in the grass median talking to a person in a minivan” on Nov. 8. She did not, however, see the accident itself.
Williams told police she was in her home sewing when she heard the brothers talking about seeing a movie at the Globe Theater. She turned off her sewing machine, walked downstairs and heard a crash report over a police scanner. Williams said she ran outside to see if she could help and “saw one person laying near the edge of where the guardrail begins in the grass median but did not see the other person.”
Williams, whose residence is approximately 180 feet from where Tynise Bowen’s minivan was parked during the investigation, said she did not come forward earlier because she “did not want to get involved and that she did not see the crash itself.”
The case is officially closed.