Man struck, killed on 301

Police say driver may have been impaired

Police say a pedestrian was struck and killed by a suspected impaired driver Tuesday night in White Plains.

Christopher Thomas Flade, 35, of White Plains had been walking on the right shoulder of southbound U.S. 301 near Billingsley Road when William Vance Straight, 35, of Lexington Park reportedly struck him with a Nissan Frontier pickup truck after careening into a guardrail.

Around 7:23 p.m. on Tuesday, Maryland State Police troopers responded to the scene and found that Straight had continued traveling south on U.S. 301 after striking Flade, and had pulled over into the driveway for the Charles County Mobile Intensive Care Unit, a news release states. Flade was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics and was transported to

the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for autopsy.

Police said Straight displayed signs of impairment and was taken into custody after field sobriety tests. The Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office was briefed on the preliminary investigation. No charges have been filed at this time.

The investigation is being continued by Cpl. J. Zimmerman, a collision reconstruction specialist assigned to the Maryland State Police CRASH team. Anyone who may have witnessed or who has information regarding this collision is asked to contact him at 301-3921231 and reference case number 17-MSP-012999.