WASHINGTON — A 73-year-old Hyattsville man, who turned himself in to federal marshals for a fatal hit-and-run along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway that killed a groom-to-be, told investigators that he didn’t know what he had hit that February night.
Earl Teeter turned himself in Wednesday. He is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident and driving without care.
He is accused of hitting and killing Rick Warrick, 38, as Warrick changed a tire alongside the parkway. The crash also injured his 28-year-old fiance Jewel Pearce, who was holding a flashlight for Warrick.
Pearce suffered serious injuries to her lower body — including at least one broken leg — and was taken to the hospital. Warrick died at the hospital.
A 16-year-old boy was also standing alongside the road and was knocked over, but not injured. A second teen was also present at the time, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Using insurance and state motor vehicle records, U.S. Park Police investigators traced vehicle parts and fragments left behind at the crash scene to Teeter’s dark blue 2004 Toyota Sienna van. Two weeks after the crash, investigators interviewed Teeter, who said he had hit something as he drove north along the parkway on Feb. 1 as he moved from the left to the right lane.
“He had seen a vehicle on the side of the road but was unsure what he had struck,” court documents say.
The next morning Teeter called his insurance company and took his van to a body shop. Police seized the van, which was having its front end replaced from the shop on Feb. 16, court records say.
Teeter made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday and was released under supervision. He was ordered not to operate a vehicle and not to consume alcohol or narcotics.
He has been appointed a public defender and a trial is set for June 8.
