UPDATE: Charges filed in fatal Wye Mills crash that killed Accomack Co. family
State Police say more than a year after a crash in Queen Anne’s County that killed five people, charges have been filed against the tractor trailer driver.
Maryland State Police say on Tuesday morning, they served 29-year-old Yvenet Mayette, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a criminal summons of 11 charges, issued by Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney Lance Richardson.
Those offenses are failure to stop at a red light – contributing to a fatal crash, failure to control speed to avoid collision – contributing to a fatal crash, negligent driving – which contributed to a fatal crash, reckless driving, driving a commercial vehicle in condition likely to cause a crash – which contributed to a fatal crash, driving a commercial vehicle with inoperative brakes on a combination vehicle – which contributed to a fatal crash, driving a commercial vehicle with inadequate brake linings – contributing to a fatal crash driving a commercial vehicle after being on duty for 70 hours in eight consecutive days – contributing to a fatal crash, driver of a commercial vehicle preparing a falsified record of duty status – which contributed to a fatal crash, driver of property carrying vehicle driving after 14 hours of having come on duty without 10 hours off duty – contributing to a fatal crash, and driver of property carrying vehicle driving after having driven 11 hours without 10 hours off duty, contributing to a fatal crash.
The charges come after a review of the Maryland State Police Crash Team investigation by the Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The charges reportedly stem from a January 10, 2015 crash, that happened just after 1:00 AM, at the intersection of Route 50 and Rout 213, in Wye Mills. Police say Mayette was driving a tractor trailer southbound on Route 213, while a 2006 Suzuki Forenza, carrying the Ayres family from Greenbush, Virginia, was driving westbound on Route 50, before the vehicles collided. The Ayres family, Regina M. Ayres, 24, Zerissa Ayres, 30, and her unborn child, Jordan Ayres, 7, Travis M. Straton, 25, and Jonathan Ayres, two months, were all killed in the collision. Mayette was apparently injured in the crash, and was taken from the scene to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
State Police say that Mayette has the right to stand trial on the charges, or to pay pre-set fines for each offense. Additional details related the investigation cannot be provided at this time, due to the potential of a court trial, according to officials.
