[Chevelle-list] Horrific - keep it on the track

[SteveZL1]

Police: 8 dead in likely drag-race crash
  Car plows into crowd that apparently gathered to watch the race, police say

  ACCOKEEK, Md. - Police in Maryland say an eighth person has died after a car roared into a crowd that was watching a drag race on a suburban highway. 
  Authorities say the driver accidentally drove into the crowd but wasn't part of the race. The spectators had just watched two other cars speed off.
  Seven people died at the scene. Police say the latest victim died at a hospital. Six others were injured. 
  Witnesses said they had just watched two cars in the illegal street race speed past when the driver of a white Crown Victoria without any lights on came up behind them and veered into the crowd.
  Police told WRC reporters in Maryland that the drivers involved in the race were doing burnouts, spinning their tires in place and kicking up smoke. The cars took off and the people moved into the roadway to watch as the cars traveled away from the crowd. 
  The driver in the Crown Victoria was traveling on Route 210 and couldn't see the crowd in the roadway because of the smoke around 3:40 a.m., police reported to the NBC affiliate in Maryland. 
  "There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, whose father was among the dead. 
  Gaines said she grabbed her child but could not help her father, William Gaines Sr., 61. 
  "He wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving," she said. "His body was in pieces." 
  Prince George's County Police Cpl. Clinton Copeland said a tractor-trailer came by shortly afterward may also have struck someone on the road as it tried to avoid the crash. 
  A 200-yard crime scene
"It's probably one of the worst scenes I've seen," Copeland said. "This is a situation that could have been avoided, and it's a very tragic situation." 
  Hours after the accident on the divided highway in Accokeek, bodies covered in white sheets were scattered along what police were calling a 200-yard crime scene. Some were in the road, while others were on the shoulder. 
  The sedan came to a rest on an embankment about 150 feet from where the crowd had been. It had a crumpled front and hood, and the roof had partially collapsed. 
  The driver of the white sedan had been interviewed and did not appear to be seriously hurt, but a passenger was among the dead, Police Capt. Donald Frick said. 
  Authorities were working to identify the victims by showing digital photos of them to bystanders who said loved ones had been hurt. John Courtney said after viewing one of the images that his brother, Mark, 33, was among the dead. 
  "He liked going to the race track, watching races," Courtney said. "It's going to take a toll on my family for a long time." 
  Investigators had "more questions than answers," Copeland said. 
  Route 210 has two lanes in each direction and traffic lights about every 150 to 200 yards in Accokeek, about 20 miles south of Washington. In that area, the road is flanked by some businesses but has little traffic in the early hours, Copeland said. 
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