WASHINGTON — An 18-year-old Silver Spring man died Wednesday after a chain-reaction crash involving five cars on Connecticut Avenue in Wheaton.
Montgomery County police said Yonatan Tedros was driving northbound on Connecticut Avenue about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday when his 2016 Honda Civic collided with a 2009 Nissan Altima, attempting to turn onto northbound Connecticut Avenue from Dean Road.
After the initial collision, Tedros’ car crossed the Connecticut Avenue median strip and struck a 2004 Mazda3 in the southbound lanes.
The impact pushed the Mazda into a 2006 Nissan Murano behind it, which was then subsequently struck from behind by a 2012 Toyota Venza that was traveling southbound on Connecticut Avenue, police said.
Tedros suffered life-threatening injuries in the series of collisions and was taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries. A juvenile passenger in his car was also taken to the hospital with injuries that police said were not life-threatening, police said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by friends of the Tedros family to help cover funeral costs.
The drivers of the Altima, the Mazda and the Venza were all taken to the hospital with injuries that police said were not life-threatening, police said. The driver of the Murano was not injured, police said.
A police investigation of the crash closed all lanes on Connecticut Avenue between Independence Street and Dean Road for several hours Wednesday.
Police said they are still investigating the crash and ask anyone who witnessed it to call the collision reconstruction unit at 240-773-6620.
WTOP’s Anna Isaacs contributed to this report.
