Tanker Truck Crash Closes Route 3 for 9 Hours

The Maryland State Police say charges are pending in a three-vehicle crash on Route 3 Monday night that closed part of the highway until early Tuesday morning.

State police identified the drivers as Ngozi Onuma, 21, of Bowie, Marc Gregorio, 40, of Forestville, and Nathaniel Tiggle, 40, of Baltimore.

State police said Onuma was driving a Mercury Grand Marquis, Gregorio was driving a box truck, and Tiggle was driving a tanker truck owned by Fleet Transport Inc., of Baltimore. The tanker was loaded with about 9,000 gallons of gasoline, according to the Prince Georges County Fire/EMS Department.

Police said the preliminary investigation indicates that at about 9:30 p.m. Monday, Onuma was driving her passenger car and came off the exit ramp from Route 450 to southbound Route 3. She told police she was in the merge lane when she saw lights come up behind her and a vehicle, later identified as the box truck, made contact with her car.

At this point, state police said they believe the box truck then traveled into  the path of the southbound tanker truck. The tanker truck driver tried to avoid the box truck, but struck it in the rear, state police said. The tanker overturned and came to rest on the shoulder of the northbound lanes of Route 3.

Route 3 in the vicinity of Route 450 was closed from about 10 p.m. to about 7 a.m. Tuesday as the tanker truck was lifted upright and a small amount of gasoline—about 100 gallons, according to the county fire department—was recovered and removed after being spilled in the crash.

Tiggle, the tanker truck driver, was transported to the Bowie Health Center  where he was treated and released. According to police, the other two drivers refused treatment. 

State police said their investigation is continuing.

David Buck, State Highway Administration spokesperson, told Patch that while the incident was serious, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been because the gasoline tanker didn’t rupture.

The environmental impact was minimal, allowing Maryland’s Department of the Environment to easily perform a cleanup, Buck said.

“It was tenuous when they were bringing the gasoline tanker upright, but because the amount of gasoline that spilled was only a small amount, they were able to clean it up very quickly,” he said. “You couldn’t even smell any gasoline at the scene.”

Forest Drive is one of the few residential areas near the crash. The street empties directly onto Route 3 and the highway is the only access to the neighborhood.

From the time of the crash until the reopening of Route 3 Tuesday morning, several dozen residents were unable to get in or out of their neighborhood.

“I was very fortunate,” Forest Drive resident Mary Sierco said Tuesday morning after the highway had reopened. “I got home before it happened, and haven’t had to go anywhere since then. Other people had to get out and couldn’t."