A Baltimore driver was convicted of negligent vehicular manslaughter on September 24 for striking and killing a 58-year-old cyclist on Garrison Boulevard last July 4. Lamar Mills, 39, had been accused of negligent vehicular manslaughter and criminal negligent manslaughter in the death of David Herman, who was riding his bicycle on the shoulder of the road when the crash occurred.
According to Baltimore Witness, court documents show Mills was driving his Jeep Wrangler about 45 mph on Garrison Boulevard, where the posted speed limit is 25 mph, when Herman moved from the shoulder into the main road. Prosecutors allege Mills then struck Herman with his vehicle, hurling him 10 feet into the air and throwing him another 20 feet down the road.
A prosecution reconstruction expert, who used a standardized method to determine Mills's speed, testified that Herman would have made it across the street if Mills had been driving the posted limit, the outlet reported. When police arrived at the scene, Mills was on the ground holding Herman's hand, according to the same report.
What the Medical Examiner Found
The medical examiner who performed internal and external examinations of Herman determined his injuries were rapidly fatal, the report states. Herman suffered blunt force trauma to the skin, bleeding under his scalp and in his skull, fractured ribs, and extensive trauma to his lungs, liver and spleen. The wounds to his ribs, lungs and spleen were identified as the cause of death, and the head injury was not the immediate cause, per the outlet's reporting.
Herman's toxicology report came back negative, and the medical examiner ruled his death an unintentional accident rather than a homicide. The report also noted that Herman had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. Court testimony indicated he failed to signal before entering the road.
Defense Says the Crash Was an Accident
Defense attorney Marci Johnson, who represented Mills, argued the case should have been handled as a civil lawsuit rather than a criminal prosecution. She asked whether the crash should be characterized as an accident and maintained that it was tragic but unintentional, according to Baltimore Witness. Sentencing for Mills is scheduled for Oct. 23.
A Rise in Baltimore Roadway Deaths
The case lands amid a documented increase in traffic fatalities across Baltimore. The city recorded 64 roadway deaths in 2024, up from 46 the year before, with serious injuries climbing from 437 to 508 over the same period, according to Streets of Baltimore. More than half of the 2024 fatalities involved pedestrians, bicyclists or scooter riders, and the group notes that 52% of fatal and serious-injury crashes occurred on just 7% of the city's roadways, a stretch of streets designated as the High Injury Network.
City officials have set a goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2041 through the city's Vision Zero Action Plan, which is due for completion this year, per Streets of Baltimore's tracking. The Maryland Highway Safety Office has likewise said it is taking a data-driven approach toward a goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries statewide.
How Maryland Law Treats Negligent Driving Deaths
Maryland's criminally negligent manslaughter statute specifies that causing another person's death through negligent driving, operating or controlling a vehicle is not itself a violation of that section; a violation instead requires criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle or vessel, according to the Maryland General Assembly. Records in Mills's case can be searched through the Maryland Judiciary Case Search portal, which provides public access to court records under the state's rules on access to court records.
Other recent cases in the region illustrate how such prosecutions have played out elsewhere. A Baltimore County judge convicted a Towson University student of criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle in a crash that killed a man and his dog, resulting in home detention, according to The Banner. In Colorado, a driver was sentenced to four years in state prison for reckless vehicular homicide in the 2023 death of 17-year-old cyclist Magnus White, per Colorado Public Radio. And a Hanover man recently pleaded guilty to a 2023 involuntary manslaughter case on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, according to the The Baltimore Sun.
Mills's sentencing on Oct. 23 will determine the consequences he faces for Herman's death, a case that has drawn renewed attention to the dangers cyclists face on Baltimore streets where speeding remains a persistent and deadly problem.
