A Baltimore family says their grief has boiled over into fresh anger after learning that Melachi Brown, one of the drivers in the March 2023 I-695 work-zone crash that killed six construction workers, was stopped in December and cited for driving on a revoked license. Relatives of the victims had already blasted the decision that let Brown serve part of his sentence on home detention. The December citation has only intensified that outrage and revived simmering questions about accountability in the deadly crash.
Charging documents obtained by CBS Baltimore state that Brown was pulled over around 2:20 a.m. on Dec. 9 near Liberty and Rolling roads because his taillights were not working. When officers asked for his license, he said he did not have one and instead handed over a Maryland MVA identification card. Jim DiMaggio, whose sister Sybil DiMaggio was among the six workers killed, told WJZ investigator Mike Hellgren he was “furious” to learn Brown had been on the road while his license was revoked. Family members say they were already incensed when a judge allowed Brown to finish the rest of his sentence on home detention last year.
Crash Background And Findings
In March 2023, two vehicles collided on the inner loop of I-695, and one car shot through an opening in the concrete barrier into a left-shoulder work zone, where six highway workers were struck and killed. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that excessive speed and a dangerous lane change were the main factors, and reporting has shown both drivers were traveling well over 100 mph. Brown later pleaded guilty to six counts of negligent manslaughter and received an 18-month sentence before being moved to home detention, according to Engineering News-Record.
Sentencing And The State's Response
The other driver, Lisa Lea, was sentenced in January to 30 years after pleading guilty to six counts of negligent vehicular manslaughter, as reported by Hoodline. In the aftermath, state transportation officials tightened work-zone rules, closing adjacent lanes when crews are on site and using protection vehicles to block any barrier openings. Those changes were detailed in coverage of the NTSB findings by WMAR-2 News. The crash also helped propel the Maryland Road Worker Protection Act, which expanded automated speed enforcement and increased penalties for violations in work zones.
What's Next
Brown is scheduled to return to Baltimore County court in March on the driving-on-a-revoked-license charge stemming from the December stop, and prosecutors say they intend to pursue the case, according to CBS Baltimore. For the DiMaggio family, that late-night traffic stop is yet another painful reminder of the crash that killed six people and a sign, they say, that the system still has not fully delivered on its promise of accountability.
