St. Mary's Co. Fatal Leonardtown Crash Under Investigation

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On Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022 at approximately 8 am, patrol deputies from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a serious motor vehicle collision on St. Andrew’s Church Road in the area of Fairgrounds Road in Leonardtown. Deputies arrived on scene to find a head-on collision between two vehicles, with one of the drivers being transported to a trauma center for treatment. Upon arrival at the trauma center, the operator was pronounced deceased. The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Collision Reconstruction Unit responded to the scene of the collision to continue the investigation.

Preliminary investigation determined that a 2010 Toyota Rav4, operated by Alex Jacob Rhoten, age 28 of Lusby, was traveling northbound on St. Andrew’s Church Road. Rhoten’s vehicle crossed the highway’s center line and struck a 1998 Nissan Altima, operated by Jason Lionel Fenwick, age 56 of Lexington Park, which was traveling southbound on St. Andrew’s Church Road. A third vehicle, a 2017 Toyota Camry, operated by Jennifer Yang, age 31 of California, was damaged by debris from the Rav4 and Altima collision.

Fenwick was transported to an area trauma center by helicopter and succumbed to his injuries sustained in the collision. Both Rhoten and Yang refused medical treatment at the scene.

At this time, operator error appears to be a contributing factor in the collision.

Anyone who may have witnessed the crash or any events leading up to it is asked to contact Cpl. Jason Smith at 301-475-4200, ext. 2328 or email jason.smith@stmarysmd.com.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: https://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at https://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at https://so.md/expungeme.

 

[BadGirl]

And most often, the person causing the accident walks away, and the innocent person in the other vehicle is the one that dies.

So not fair.

 

[Grumpy]

texting..

 

[ginwoman]

This is so horrible and sad

 

[kwillia]

The announcement for the road reopening wasn't until 5 pm. The investigated the hell out of that accident scene.

 

[PrchJrkr]

The announcement for the road reopening wasn't until 5 pm. The investigated the hell out of that accident scene.

I was a little annoyed by the detour, but realized it must've been something big for them to have to shut down the road. I had flashbacks to the Brown Road incident.

 

[glhs837]

I'll take "What is cell phone distraction?" for $500 Alex.

 

[Grumpy]

I'll take "What is cell phone distraction?" for $500 Alex.

Agreed...I don't know if I am more aware of head-on collisions, cars running off the road for no reason or rear ender accidents, but it sure seems that those types of incidents have exploded since cell phones were capable of texting. Other than blu-tooth voice, all cell tech needs to be eliminated in cars. ..Disclaimer - I have no idea if texting was involved in this accident, but I am betting it is.

 

[glhs837]

Agreed...I don't know if I am more aware of head-on collisions, cars running off the road for no reason or rear ender accidents, but it sure seems that those types of incidents have exploded since cell phones were capable of texting. Other than blu-tooth voice, all cell tech needs to be eliminated in cars. ..Disclaimer - I have no idea if texting was involved in this accident, but I am betting it is.

As a rider, I keep a special eye out for it, and its endemic. I can usually spot them from behind, they exhibit a lot of the classic drunk driver "tells". Hugging the inside of the lane in corners and when opposing traffic is happening, going at or below the speed limit, having huge following distances. Crappy lane keeping when there's no opposing traffic. Head position is another tell. Its a fun game to spot them. On the bike I'll occasionally give a toot of the horn and the fingers to eyes then forward that indicates "KEEP YOUR EFFING EYES ON THE ROAD!!!"

 

[kom526]

Earlier this week I was on my way to do my daily time in the salt mines and got behind someone watching videos (TikToks?) with their conveniently mounted phone. There was some drifting within their lane but they needed to be in the left lane. Doing 50 mph.

 

[Sneakers]

On the bike I'll occasionally give a toot of the horn and the fingers to eyes then forward that indicates "KEEP YOUR EFFING EYES ON THE ROAD!!!"

I used to do that, until a few got aggressive with me. Now I just give them space and wait for the inevitable.

 

[glhs837]

I used to do that, until a few got aggressive with me. Now I just give them space and wait for the inevitable.

Yeah, always ready to bolt after that. So far the reactions have been surprise followed by shame.

 

[Clem72]

I had flashbacks to the Brown Road incident.

That's what I called the staggering walk home from my aunt's christmas '88 dinner after eating what turned out to be the "wrong kind of mushroom" gravy.