Police officers cunducting a funeral procession inadvertently caused a fatal crash on a Maryland interstate on Friday May 23rd 2008, after stopping all lanes of busy holiday traffic, causing a six vehicle accident and the death of a mother and her baby.

At about 11:30 a.m., a FedEx Freight tractor-trailer, unable to stop, struck a Dodge Caravan, ripping it apart and turning it wrong way. In the front seat of the van were MariaJ.Lizama-Sanchez,31, and WalterSanchez,36, of Glen Burnie.

Mrs. Lizama-Sanchez, who was 7 months pregnant, was flown with critical injuries by Maryland State Police helicopter to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where doctors delivered her baby, who died at about 12:30 PM. Mrs. Lizama-Sanchez died later at about 2 PM according to Maryland State Police.

Mr. Sanchez also was flown by helicopter to Shock Trauma.

The preliminary investigation indicates that shortly before 11:30 a.m., members of the Anne Arundel Police Department stopped traffic on southbound I-97 at Maryland Route 100 to allow a funeral procession to proceed onto southbound I-97 from eastbound Route 100, state police said.

After hitting the Caravan, the tractor-trailer driven by LamoyanW.Lee, 34, of Essex, hit a Ford pickup driven by Ernest L. Jones Jr. of Westminster, who was not injured.

The tractor-trailer then rear-ended another Ford truck, a white F-250 driven by Robert Boyer, 40, of Baltimore. The impact forced Mr. Boyer's truck into a silver BMW driven by James C.Shaffer,60,with passenger AnneL.Shaffer,59,both of Annapolis.

That car was then forced into a red Ford-500 driven by JohannaC.Warner, 61,ofYork,Pa., state police said.

All but Mr. Jones Jr. were sent to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie with non-life threatening injuries, state police said.

After the accident, the tractor-trailer spilled almost 100 gallons of fuel onto the highway. The Maryland Department of Environment was on the scene to help with the cleanup, according to county firefighters.

The accident at the start of the busy Memorial Day weekend forced southbound traffic on I-97 to detour onto the Route 100 exit. All lanes of I-97 were closed shortly after the accident until 2 p.m., when the right lane was finally opened. It was 2:35 p.m. when all lanes were re-opened.

County public schools sent out a phone message at 1:58 p.m. announcing that some school buses would experience delays due to traffic backups caused by the accident. Many students who ride buses were being kept at school until their bus arrived.

At least one county police officer was rude to me  and trying to prevent media from covering the story. He told media that " You are not going to be here"' and claimed that the photograhers presence was going to " cause another accident".

I am a member of NPPA and have covered photos for local newspapers for years, and I have never heard that before. Also, the state police were much nicer and said that the roadway involved was a dangerous area to stop traffic.

County police officials declined to comment on the accident at least twice on the day of the crash. State police officers were more open and kind.

Nobody has explained yet why county officers were controlling a state police juristiction highway, or even if they notified state officials of thier plan to interupt holiday traffic. There is also no comment as to why the police did not put out any public notice that I 97 would be shut down, doing so may also have prevented the tragedy.

The funeral service was for the father of a county police officer.

No charges have been filed in the crash at this time. The investigation, by state police is ongoing, officials said.

This incident has many people asking : Are funeral processions really nessesary ?

The tradition of funeral processions started at time when people rode horses and did not have all of the hazards that are now present with highway traffic and higher speed vehicles. Should changes be made for funerals so that safer transit may be achieved.

And should a major highway full of commuters ever be shut down for any event other than an emergency?

Is a funeral service really worth two more deaths ?