Good Samaritan dies after being struck, thrown from I-395 while helping stranded driver
BALTIMORE -- A good Samarian assisting with a disabled car was struck during a crash and knocked over the I-395 bridge Sunday night and died, according to the MDTA.
Robert Taylor Horne, 50, was located by crews in the Patapsco River.
The heart-stopping tragedy unfolded on I-395 in South Baltimore just after 9:30 p.m..
A preliminary investigation by Maryland Transportation Authority Police revealed Horne, from Smithsburg, Maryland, stopped to help a driver in a disabled Chevrolet that was stranded partially on the left shoulder and in the left lane.
Then, a Nissan and a Mercedes crashed.
Police said one of those vehicles struck Horne, sending him plunging more than 100 feet over the jersey wall and into the water.
Jennifer Grap saw the response while on her way home from work.
"That is a very, very high bridge. It's very scary. It broke my heart," Grap said. "I felt terrible."
She saw the many vehicles off Russell Street near the Horseshoe Casino and Topgolf.
"Tons of police," Grap said. "The number of rescue workers who were there, it was a lot. That's the most I've ever seen at a scene before."
Divers and a swift water rescue team scoured the water and recovered a body.
Dispatch audio WJZ reviewed showed the dark, difficult conditions for rescue crews.
"I have missing people and somebody went over the side of the bridge," said one responder. "One person at least went over the bridge into the water!"
"We dispatched our special rescue operations, our dive team, and the office of emergency management to this location where they deployed boats into the water, combing through that area trying to find a victim. Within moments, they did locate an adult male victim," said Kevin Cartwright, the Baltimore City Fire Department's Director of Communications.
Anyone who witnessed the incident on southbound I-395 is asked to contact MDTA Police investigators at 410-537-7911.
"No charges have been assessed at this early stage and are pending outcome of the full investigation," police said in a news release.
"How amazing of a person to stop and rescue someone else without even thinking of your own safety. I feel most of us have tried to do that before. …It's heartbreaking," Grap said.
