UPDATE: Months later, Crisfield father seeks answers after daughter killed in crash
Nearly eight months ago RJ Joyner’s life forever changed.
He received devastating news that his 15-year-old daughter, Andrea, had lost her life after a horrific car crash on Route 413.
“It still seems so surreal that she’s gone. It doesn’t feel like sometimes that she’s gone, that she’s just gone away on a trip.”
According to a Maryland State Police investigation, on the afternoon of March 27th, 22-year-old Christopher Garcia of New Jersey was driving a box truck registered to a Seaford Delaware business, when he hit the car with Andrea and her mother Patricia inside.
Patricia is still recovering from her injuries, but Andrea was pronounced dead not too long after the crash.
“It’s been 7 1/2 months, it feels like it happened yesterday.”
Joyner says that as time passes dealing with the fact that his daughter, who he explains was a great girl as well as student, doesn’t get any easier.
He says one of the reasons why is because Garcia shouldn’t have been driving to begin with.
According to Maryland online court documents, Garcia was charged with driving with a suspended, out of state license in Westover in December 2014.
Then, just 24 days prior to the date of the crash that claimed Andrea’s life, Garcia appeared in court but was never prosecuted.
“The State’s Attorney office null processed that. If they had did what was supposed to had been done and did their job, Mr. Garcia wouldn’t have been driving that day and Andrea would still be here.”
The crash report said the fault is solely on Mr. Garcia for not controlling his speed to avoid a collision, but still no charges were filed.
It’s been over half a year, and Joyner is now focusing on raising awareness on the roadways. Hoping to help prevent for another family the same pain and suffering his family now lives with every day.
“People need to pay attention when they’re driving on the highway and not take stuff for granted, because no one is promised tomorrow.”
47 ABC reached out Somerset County State’s Attorney Daniel Powell for comment, but received no response. The office was closed Wednesday for Veterans Day.
RJ started an online petition in Andrea’s honor hoping to get the attention of Maryland lawmakers to reconsider the state’s motor vehicle laws.
The Somerset County State’s Attorney says Christopher Garcia was driving 62 mph in a 55 mph zone, he was not intoxicated, and was not using a cell phone.
The charge the State’s Attorney tried to pin on Garcia was “criminally negligent manslaughter.”
That charge means Garcia should have been aware, but failed to perceive that his manner of driving created a substantial and unjustifiable risk to human life.
This failure to perceive the risks must have been a gross departure from the conduct of a reasonable person under similar circumstances.”
When faced with the facts, a grand jury reportedly denied to charge Garcia because “simple carelessness is insufficient to establish the defendant’s guilt.”.
He is being cited with reckless driving, negligent driving, and failure to control speed to avoid a collision.
As to why the court dismissed Garcia’s suspended license charge 24 days before the crash, the state’s attorney says Garcia had already fixed the suspension by the time he showed up for court and had no prior serious traffic offenses.
