A single-vehicle crash Sunday morning in Montgomery County killed three people, police said, including a 20-year-old university student.
John Hoover, a sophomore at this university, was a passenger in a 2007 Toyota Corolla when the car left the road and struck a tree at about 3:11 a.m. in the 4700 block of Olney Laytonsville Road, according to Tonya Childs, a Montgomery County Police Department spokeswoman.
The cause of the crash is not yet determined, and the investigation is ongoing, Childs said.
Spencer Datt, 18, Derwood, was pronounced dead at the scene, Childs said. Haeley McGuire, 18, Rockville, and Hoover were pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Charles Nardella, 19, Gaithersburg and Kevin Coffay, 20, Rockville, received minor injuries, according to Childs.
Coffay, the car’s driver, fled the scene before police arrived but officers found him three hours after the collision, Childs said.
In court today, Montgomery State’s Attorney John McCarthy said that Coffay had attended two parties that night and that he reeked of alcohol, the Washington Post reported. Nardella told detectives this information and also that Coffay had been driving over the speed limit at the time of the crash, according to the Post.
Coffay is charged with failure to immediately return and remain at the scene of an accident involving an injured person, failure to immediately stop vehicle at the scene of an accident involving a death, failure to render reasonable assistance to an injured person, failure to report the accident to police and attempt to elude the police on foot. He has not been charged with any alcohol-related violations.
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