Second Man Dies From Injuries in Work Site Hit-and-Run

BURTONSVILLE, Md. -- A second construction worker has died from his injuries after a van slammed into five construction workers on Route 29.

Montgomery County Police say 37-year-old James Cronin of Glen Burnie died Tuesday. On Monday, Cronin was flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

Police say the driver of the van, 31-year-old Manuel De Jesus Gonzalez-Geronimo, turned himself in at around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Gonzalez-Geronimo, of Hyattsville, was charged with failure to immediately return and remain at the scene of a collision involving death, failure to immediately stop a vehicle at the scene of a collision involving bodily injury, and driving without a license.

He is being held without bond at the Montgomery County Detention Center. Police say Gonzalez-Geronimo could face additional charges.

Prosecutors say Gonzalez-Geronimo has also admitted to being in the country illegally for seven years. He is originally from Guatemala.

Another construction worker, 30-year-old Martin Ruffin of Baltimore, was killed and three other men injured when the van plowed through a construction site.

The accident occurred around 1 p.m. Monday when five construction workers were taking a break and sitting on a guardrail on northbound Route 29 -- north of Route 198 just before the Howard County line.

The white Ford Econoline 150 work van careened out of control and struck a construction truck parked nearby, police say.

Police say the impact caused the van to veer to the right and strike all five workers sitting on the guardrail. The force of the crash also caused the parked construction truck to hit another parked truck, which then hit a cement mixer.

Three other men are hospitalized and expected to survive, police say.

After the crash, police say Gonzalez-Geronimo jumped out of the van and ran into a wooded area off of Route 29. Police believe there may have been other people in the van who also fled.

Police found blood in the van and police K-9 teams and helicopters scoured the area for hours after the crash.

At the time of the accident, the workers had just finished patching up some sections on the bridge deck on southbound Route 29 and gathered on the northbound side to rest.

Anyone with information about the accident can call the Montgomery County Police Collision Reconstruction Unit at 301-840-2435 or the police non-emergency number at 301-279-8000.

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