Local Woman, 18, Dies in Head-on Car Accident

An 18-year-old Jarrettsville woman died Tuesday as the result of a head-on traffic accident that took place Monday afternoon.

Ashley Nicole Stewart of the 1300 block of Wiley Oak Drive was a passenger in a car traveling south on Grier Nursery Road driven by Mark Patrick Buchanan, 18, of the 4000 block of St. Clair Bridge Road in Jarrettsville, according to police.

A spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office said Buchanan's 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt crossed into the northbound lane and struck the 2001 Chevy Silverado 1500 driven by Jorge Luis Velazquez-Caballos, 32, of the 3600 block of Grier Nursery Road in Forest Hill.

The accident investigation is in the "preliminary stages," said spokeswoman Monica Worrell. Neither Buchanan nor Stewart was wearing a seatbelt. 

The crash trapped Stewart inside the Cobalt. Members of the Darlington and Bel Air Volunteer Fire Companies extricated her.

She was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center by a Maryland State Police helicopter while Velazquez-Caballos was transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center by the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Co.

Buchanan was taken to UCMC by Darlington Volunteer Fire Co., but was later transferred to Shock Trauma.

Police say charges related to the accident are pending against Buchanan.

Velazquez-Caballos did not have a Maryland driver's license, police said.

Both drivers were listed in "apparently normal" driving condition on the police report.