Galesville father, infant son killed in crash

A Galesville father and his 2-month-old son were killed on a Hunt Valley interstate yesterday morning after their wrecked car was struck by another vehicle as the man was unstrapping the infant from his child seat.

Ronnel S. Offer, 25, of Galesville was pronounced dead at the scene.

The baby's mother, Erika L. Braun, and three others also were injured in the early morning crash on Interstate 83 in northern Baltimore County, state police said.

Ms. Braun, 19, of Harrisburg, Pa., was driving a 2001 Mazda 626 northbound near Belfast Road just before 3 a.m. when she lost control of the car and struck a guardrail on the left side of the roadway. The impact ejected passenger Clint M. Jones, 24, of Galesville out the back window and sent the Mazda to the right lane of the interstate, where the disabled vehicle came to a stop, police said.

The woman and passengers Demarco Offer, 21, and Ronnel S. Offer, both of the 900 block of West Benning Road in Galesville got out of the crashed vehicle. While Demarco Offer and Ms. Braun stood alongside the car, Ronnel Offer opened the back door of the Mazda to get his infant son, Tyler M. Offer, out of his car seat, police said.

As he was pulling the 2-month-old from the wreckage, a 2007 Toyota Prius struck the back of the Mazda and the five people around it.

Tyler was taken by ambulance to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, where he died from his injuries shortly after arrival.

Ms. Braun was taken by ambulance to Sinai Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, police said. Mr. Jones and Demarco Offer - who neighbors identified as Ronnel Offer's brother - were both flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with critical injuries and were released yesterday afternoon, according to Cindy Rivers, a shock trauma spokesman.

At about 2 p.m. yesterday, a car pulled up on W. Benning Road in Galesville and a woman helped two men from the vehicle. One man was wearing a neck brace and the other used crutches to walk to a large group of friends and family gathered at a row of picnic tables in front of the Galesville home.

A woman in a yellow shirt, identified by a neighbor as Ronnel Offer's mother, stood up from a picnic bench and embraced the men in a long, swaying hug.

The family declined to comment.

Neither speed nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the fatal crash, said Sgt. Arthur Betts, a state police spokesman. He said that section of the interstate is "not lit at all" and it would have been difficult for the driver of the Prius, Joe Y. Nimely, to see the disabled vehicle ahead of him during the dark hours of the morning.

"There is no roadside lighting there whatsoever," Sgt. Betts said. "That and the fact that the Mazda's headlights weren't working from the crash - the mix of no overhead lights and no lights on the car may have made it hard to see (what was) ahead."

He said that section of the interstate is not on a curve, but is on a slight downhill slope.

Troopers with the Golden Ring barrack are conducting a detailed reconstruction of the crash, police said.

The investigation is ongoing, and there have been no charges made in the crash.

Mr. Nimely, 42, and passenger Celia S. Nimely, 34, both of the 200 block of Taylor Drive in York, Pa., were taken by ambulance to shock trauma with serious injuries. Mr. Nimely was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon, Ms. Rivers said. Ms. Nimely was listed in fair condition this morning.

Northbound I-83 was closed for about 4 1/2 hours while troopers investigated and cleared the scene.