Overview
- A two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Clopper Road and Great Seneca Highway early Tuesday morning left 58-year-old William Vance Payne II dead after his Toyota was struck.
- Police say a white 2015 Kia Optima driven by a 13-year-old entered the intersection and hit Payne’s car, and the Kia overturned and caught fire with occupants trapped.
- The Kia carried seven juveniles aged 12 to 15 — four girls and three boys — and all were taken to area trauma centers, with the 13-year-old driver described as in critical but stable condition.
- Montgomery County police reported the Kia was listed as stolen from a Germantown home several hours after the crash, and fire officials called the scene a mass-casualty incident because of the number and severity of injuries.
- The county Collision Reconstruction Unit is leading an investigation that could take weeks or months, and the State's Attorney’s Office will decide whether to file charges, a process that is shaped by Maryland’s juvenile justice rules.