The teen girl under investigation for the deadly crash atop the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this past month is “devastated” and wants to express her concern for the family of the victim, her attorney said.
Candy Lynn Baldwin, the 19-year-old from Millington, who police said may have been asleep behind the wheel during the crash that killed John Robert Short, 57, of Willards, spoke for the first time through her attorney, Steven Allen.
“This was a tragic event, and Mr. Short and his family are in the prayers of Ms. Baldwin and her family,” Allen said. “Ms. Baldwin deeply sympathizes with what the Short family has gone through as a result of this tragedy.”
The Aug. 10 crash sparked a probe into the bridge’s structural integrity, and Maryland Transportation Authority officials said Wednesday they found evidence of corroded steel bolts in the concrete barriers along the left lane of the bridge’s eastbound span.
That lane was closed for “round-the-clock” work to strengthen the left parapet at both ends of the span, officials said. The repairs are similar to those recently completed on the right parapet.
The lane closure means the westbound span will operate with two-way traffic from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday.
Between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., the authority will close both lanes of the eastbound span when needed.
Commuters still will have three westbound lanes for the morning rush and the return from the Eastern Shore on the weekend.
No charges have been filed against Baldwin, who had been granted probation before judgment on two previous speeding charges and was found guilty of playing music too loudly from her vehicle.
Investigators said they are awaiting toxicology results.
Sources close to the case said Baldwin, who suffered broken kneecaps and internal injuries, was not heading home from a wedding contrary to early media reports. They said her mother was married about 4 p.m. Saturday on the Eastern Shore. The teen left the wedding, drove to Baltimore, and was returning home about 4 a.m. when she crossed the center line, sideswiping Short’s tractor-trailer.
Short’s truck was the first to veer off the bridge in its 56-year history.
Staff writer Luke Broadwater contributed to this report.
