Teen dies in Gaithersburg car wreck

On Monday morning, a Gaithersburg teenager became the 27th person killed in a car crash in Montgomery County this year. Through June 28, 2009, there were only 13 fatalities, police said. Montgomery County Police spokesman Dan Friz said he had no idea why the number has nearly doubled this year. Justin Xavier Dorsey, 17, was pronounced dead at 6:01 a.m. at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., a day after he was a passenger in a car involved in a crash in Darnestown. Dorsey was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition Sunday, Friz said.

Dorsey was a passenger in a gold 2002 Toyota Echo that was traveling west in the 15500 block of River Road at about 5:50 p.m. Sunday when it crossed into the eastbound lane, Friz said. Police have not said how the Echo, driven by 17-year-old Ryan Sparks of Gaithersburg, hit an oncoming 2009 Mercedes C63 driven by Daniel Peter Schwartz, 31, of Burke, Va.

"We're not sure where Mr. Dorsey was seated in the car, but we know there were five teens in the car," Friz said by phone Monday. "We're not sure what caused the car to swerve into oncoming traffic at this time, but we are actively investigating."

The four other teens in Sunday's crash were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, Friz said. Schwartz also suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken by ambulance to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville. Sunday's fatal accident is the second weekend crash county police are investigating. The first occurred about 7 p.m. Friday. Bicyclist Stanton Sylvester Miller Jr., 48, of Gaithersburg, was struck by a tan 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe in the 22300 block of Ridge Road while riding north in the road's paved right shoulder, according to police. The Tahoe's driver, Quinzy Reginald Fraser, 34, of Clarksburg, was traveling north on Ridge Road when his vehicle left the lane for unknown reasons, according to police. Fraser, 34, a former University of Maryland football player in the late 1990s, was charged with second-degree assault of a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest on Saturday, according to an online state court records database. He is being held on $200,000 bond. SOURCE: Gazette