Single Vehicle Crash in Columbia Sends Two Teens to Shock Trauma

Howard County police are investigating a single vehicle collision that sent two teens to the hospital Monday afternoon.

Driver Daniel Howard Baker, 18, of the 6000 block of Mellow Wine Way, was last listed in critical but stable condition at the the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, according to a police press release.

A 15-year-old female passenger in the front seat, whom police didn't name, was also seriously injured and flown to the Trauma Center. She was last listed in stable condition, police said.

According to police, Baker was driving a 1996 Acura Integra traveling southeast in the 8000 block of Harriet Tubman Lane in Columbia when the vehicle left the roadway on a curve and struck a telephone pole.

Both vehicle occupants were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the 4:13 p.m. collision, police said. The preliminary investigation reveals excessive speed and failure to drive within a single lane as contributing factors, police said.

Harriet Tubman Lane between Caravan Court and Freetown Road was closed until 6 p.m. for the collision investigation and subsequent clean-up, police said.