Police Identify 6th Deceased Victim In Bus Crash
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Police say a homeless woman who hadn't previously been publicly identified, 46-year-old Pattie Lynn Martinez, died along with five other people in Tuesday's southwest Baltimore bus crash.
Police held a press conference to update the media on the details of the investigation shortly after 1 p.m. Friday.
"At this point I'm going to have to do something that's something that we don't like to do but now it's something that we have to do," Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith said.
"We have a 46-year-old female who we have not been able to notify next of kin. She's described as homeless at this point. We have a last known address of the 400 block of South Bond Street."
Shortly after the press conference, Baltimore Police tweeted that a citizen called in and Martinez's next of kin had been found.
With the release of Martinez's name, police have identified all six deceased victims of the crash.
THE VICTIMS
- School bus driver, Glenn R. Chappell, 67
- MTA bus driver, Ebonee Danell Baker, 33
- Cherry Denise Yarborough, 51, of 51200 Woolverton Ave., Baltimore
- Terance Lee Casey, 52, of 200 Saint Matthews Street, Baltimore
- Gerald Holloway, 51, of 600 Dumbarton Ave., Baltimore
- Pattie Lynn Martinez, 46, no fixed address
At the press conference, police also clarified a few details of the initial investigation, announcing that an additional person was involved in the crash who was not counted among the passengers who were transported to hospitals that morning. That person has brought the total number of people involved in the crash to 17.
That woman, who is 29, is in stable condition at the hospital. The only other person who is still hospitalized is a 28-year-old man who remains in critical condition.
Smith also said the school bus did not hit a pillar at the entrance to Loudon Park Cemetery, as originally thought. It only hit a Mustang, and then the MTA bus that was traveling in the opposite direction.
No mechanical defects or deficiencies were noted in either bus, according to NTSB investigator Jennifer Morrison, who also spoke at the press conference.
Morrison said four surveillance videos "that captured the school bus on approach to the crash site" have been recovered.
"In order to calibrate those videos and analyze them for any kind of speed assessment, we have taken some additional measurements of the roadway and that's why we have a lane closure out there this morning."
Morrison announced that several witnesses, including passengers and others who have come forward, have been interviewed. Additional interviews are planned, but statement details will not be shared yet.
NTSB hopes to issue a preliminary report of the crash within two to three weeks, though that report will not include the probable cause of the crash.
Based on a video from a nearby convenience store that WJZ obtained Thursday that shows the bus going by moments before the crash, "it does appear that the bus was traveling at a rate of speed higher than that of the posted speed limit," Smith said.
This is a developing story.
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