A single-vehicle crash tore into a building in the 5600 block of Sargent Road in Chillum on Wednesday, leaving significant damage behind and no driver in sight by the time officers arrived.
According to WJLA, county police said the driver crashed a vehicle into the building and then left the scene before officers could reach them. Officers who responded did not find the driver, and police have not released any details on a suspect.
The station’s report does not say whether anyone was injured in the crash, nor does it specify what the damaged building is used for. Those details remain unknown for now, as does any information about who was behind the wheel or why they fled.
The same Sargent Road block has seen a similar collision before. In June 2021, a truck struck the front of a CVS in the 5600 block; police said its driver fled, and the crash remained under investigation in the station’s coverage of that incident. The earlier crash happened around 2:35 a.m., while the current report places Wednesday’s collision at a different building, underscoring that the address has had more than one vehicle strike a storefront.
Not the First Time a Car Has Hit a Chillum-Area Structure
This isn’t the first time a vehicle has slammed into a building in the Chillum area. Back in January 2023, a car smashed through the front door of a home in the 6900 block of Riggs Road in Prince George’s County and landed upside down, leaving a large hole in the structure, per the same outlet’s earlier coverage.
A few miles away in northeast Washington, D.C., a car crashed through the wall of a three-story apartment building on Clermont Drive NE in October 2022, rendering two apartments uninhabitable. Fire officials said at the time that no injuries were reported, though police said they were searching for the driver of that vehicle as well.
A Deadlier Crash Still Resonates in the Area
Chillum has also seen far more tragic outcomes from drivers fleeing the scene of a crash. In November 2015, a driver struck a car near Chillum Road and Queens Chapel Road before fleeing, losing control of his pickup truck, and slamming into a church van moments later. Five people died in that crash, including the driver himself, according to audio later released and reported by the outlet.
No such casualties have been confirmed in Wednesday’s crash. What remains clear is that another Chillum-area building has been left damaged by a driver who didn’t stick around, and investigators have yet to say who that driver was or where they went.
Maryland law sets out duties when a crash damages unattended property: the driver must stop and try to notify the owner or person in charge, and if that person cannot be found, leave a written notice with identifying information. A violation can carry up to two months in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both, under the state’s unattended-property crash statute. The statute’s application depends on the circumstances of the crash.
