DOVER, DELAWARE (10/20/2015) A driver was killed and his girlfriend seriously injured when a car struck trees along Route 1 north of Dover on Monday, the Delaware State Police reported this morning.
The crash happened about 5:35 p.m. in the southbound lanes just north of the north Dover exit (Scarborough Road, Exit 104).
William R. Brown Jr., 44, of Middle River, Maryland, was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt in the right lane when two other vehicles were passing in the left lane, police said.
The first passing car started to pull into the right lane but then pulled back into the left lane, without striking the Cobalt.
“At the same time, the Cobalt veered to the right shoulder to avoid contact with the vehicle and pulled back into the right lane. Moments later the Cobalt swerved back to the right and down an embankment where it struck a large tree with the front bumper,” police said in a news release. “The impact caused the Cobalt to rotate in a clockwise manner striking another large tree on the driver’s side and then rotate over onto the passenger’s side before coming to a stop.”
Brown, who was wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene.
His girlfriend and passenger, Dawn Corson, 43, of Middle River, was extricated from the vehicle and taken by state police helicopter to Christiana Hospital in Stanton. She was admitted in serious condition, police said.
The first passing vehicle stopped at the scene, police said, but the second, which also did not collide with the Cobalt, did not stop and troopers had no information it its make and model.
The right lane of the highway was closed about 3½ hours as police investigated and the wreckage was cleared.
If anyone has any information about the other vehicle or who witnessed this incident, police ask they contact Master Cpl. J. Lane at 302-697-4454, ext. 215.
Cheswold firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
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