LinkaThomas L. Meighan Jr.'s white Ford F250 truck terrorized Baltimore for hours before and after its driver allegedly struck a 20-year-old Johns Hopkins University student from Chicago's North Shore in a fatal hit-and-run Oct. 16, according to a half-dozen witnesses who told police they saw the vehicle running red lights, tailgating other drivers and driving the wrong way on a one-way street throughout the day.
At least one man called 911 to report the dangerous driving, and two women would later identify Meighan, 39, from a photo lineup as the truck's driver at certain points in the day. The Elkridge man was ordered held without bail Monday on 17 related charges.
"The court believes that ... you pose an extreme risk to the safety of the public, and there is some substantial question whether you would appear for your trial," said Baltimore District Judge Nancy Shugar.
Meighan already has 21 motor vehicle convictions on his record, including six for driving while intoxicated and two for driving under the influence. He was free on $100,000 bail before his arrest Saturday, awaiting a December trial on unrelated hit-and-run and DWI allegations from late July. He's also been convicted of escape for leaving an alcohol treatment facility while in custody in 2002.
Meighan, who told court officials that he works for a cable company subcontractor, faces less than six years in prison if convicted on all charges, none of which include manslaughter or homicide.
"The automobile manslaughter case remains under active investigation between [the police] highway reconstruction [unit] and the prosecutors in the state's attorney's office," said Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman with the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office.
It's unclear if any of the onlookers could identify Meighan as the truck's driver when it struck 20-year-old Miriam Frankl of Wilmette about 3:20 p.m. that day, as the junior molecular and cell biology major tried to cross St. Paul Street. The truck was captured on surveillance video, however, and recognized by several bystanders, according to charging documents that reconstruct the vehicle's travels that afternoon.
Police spokesman Donny Moses said the Southeastern District received a 911 call about the truck "a couple hours" before the fatal accident, and sent an officer out to search for it with "negative results."
"The next thing we heard about it, it was in that accident," said Moses, who also heard that there is not enough evidence to charge Meighan with manslaughter. Detective Kevin Hagan said officers consulted with the state's attorney's office "to deem what charges were appropriate."
A message left on Meighan's phone Monday was not returned. And a number associated with the Elkridge address listed on charging documents, where he reportedly lives with his fiancee of one year, was disconnected. Meighan and his wife are estranged.
Police documents outline a harrowing afternoon of dangerous driving that Friday, Oct. 16. The witness accounts begin about 1 p.m., when a former Tate Engineering service vehicle, a white Ford F-250, was spotted near Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center traveling west on Eastern Avenue and "driving erratically." The vehicle was abruptly changing lanes, tailgating and trying to cut off other drivers, leading onlookers to copy the license plate number of 94W412, according to the police application for charges.
From there, witnesses said the driver got more aggressive. This is their account, according to police:
The truck's driver tried to cut in front of a woman, who wouldn't let him in, and he then tailgated her. A man who witnessed the incident began to follow the truck along Eastern, noticed an old Tate Engineering sticker on the vehicle and called the company to complain.
The truck stopped in front of 2805 Eastern Ave. and the driver - described as a very tall, white male with dark hair - got out and urinated alongside the vehicle, then continued on. (Meighan is 6 feet 3, records say.) The driver turned north onto Broadway, and the witness who was following him called 311, then 911 "in fear for the safety of others due to the way the vehicle was driving," police documents say.
The witness lost sight of the truck after it ran several red lights on Broadway, through intersections with Bank, Gough and Pratt streets.
Surveillance video picked up a truck with the same description about 3:22 p.m. traveling westbound on 33rd Street. It turned right onto a service drive of St. Paul Street "traveling at a high rate of speed for such a small roadway," according to another witness, and hit Frankl, who "flew up into the air." She died early the next morning. The driver did not look or slow down, according to the witness.
Yet another witness saw the truck make an illegal left turn onto University Parkway. And a different witness said she soon saw the truck going the wrong way in the 4200 block of Raymar Ave. It then exited onto Belair Road, and cut off an SUV, causing a collision. A woman took down the truck's tag number.
Later that evening, between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., another witness saw the truck "driving erratically" by a man who "looked like he may have been mentally ill," according to the court charging document.
Meighan, the registered owner of a former Tate Engineering Ford F-250 with the tag number 94W412, is charged with traffic offenses at each of the locations that witnesses identified.
On Eastern Avenue, he's charged with unsafe lane changing.
On Belair Road, it's failure to stop after an accident involving vehicle damage as well as failure to return to and remain at an accident scene involving vehicle damage, and on Northern Parkway, the charge is unsafe lane changing .
On Raymar, he's charged with driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and on Broadway, there are three charges of running red lights.
On St. Paul Street, he's charged with negligent driving, reckless driving, failing to immediately stop at an accident involving bodily injury, failure to stop at an accident involving death (charged twice), failure to immediately return to and remain at a bodily injury accident scene, driving on a suspended license and failure to furnish required identification as well as render reasonable assistance to an injured person.
Prosecutors dropped an 18th charge, involving failure to obey traffic control devices.
Most of the charges carry penalties of between 60 days and one year in prison, or fines of up to $500.
They're similar to the charges in Meighan's pending case from July, which lists a Sykesville address for him. In that case, he's accused of hitting a compact car near the intersection of Milford and Gwynn Oak avenues while driving the white Ford truck, then running from the scene on foot. He was picked up walking on Liberty Heights Avenue and later given a Breathalyzer test. His blood alcohol concentration was 0.093, above Maryland's legal limit of 0.08.
Meighan's trial in that case is scheduled for December.
What's sad is not that this git is a giant gaping asshole, but that it's his 22nd incident, and yet he was still allowed to drive. And, the laxity of the charges. He'll probably be out in a few years, doing the same shit all over again.
Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin
