A father of four taking his son and a daughter out for a late lunch in Silver Spring was killed when a driver fleeing police crossed a double-yellow line, slammed into a sport utility vehicle carrying Terrence A. Blackwell and sent it into a utility pole, according to police and Blackwell’s family. Blackwell, 46, died three years to the day after his second wife died from an illness, Blackwell’s 21-year-old daughter Constance Blackwell told The Washington Examiner.
D.C. resident Edwin Samuel Barber was driving the van that struck the SUV that Terrence A. Blackwell was a passenger in, police said. Barber, who was taken to the hospital for minor injuries, has not been charged with any crime. His 11-month-old daughter was in the van, but was not injured.
The incident started Saturday afternoon when Barber and his girlfriend Enza Pagan began to argue outside an IHOP at 12251 Tech Road in Silver Spring. Pagan told The Examiner her friend called police, fearing for Pagan’s safety. In 2008, Barber was arrested and later convicted on assault chargers after a domestic dispute with Pagan.
Pagan said “he put his hands on me” at the pancake house. Montgomery County police said they have not determined if she was assaulted.
When police arrived, Barber jumped into Pagan’s 1999 Chevrolet Express van with their daughter and drove off.
Police said they followed Barber with their lights and sirens on.
“He probably didn’t pull over because he didn’t want to go back to jail,” Pagan said.
Barber traveled about a mile until he hit traffic on Cherry Hill Road. That’s when police said he crossed into oncoming traffic and hit the 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe. The Tahoe careened into a utility pole and flipped on its side.
Police said Blackwell was in the passenger’s seat and not wearing a seat belt. He was killed when he was ejected from the SUV. The 27-year-old female driver and the other passengers — Blackwell’s 24-year-old son, Terrence L. Blackwell and one of his daughters, 23-year-old Angela Blackwell — are in stable condition at area hospitals, authorities said.
Terrence A. Blackwell, a Hyattsville resident, was visiting Constance Blackwell, who was home from college, when he decided to take his son and other family out to T.G.I. Friday’s, in the same shopping center as the IHOP, Constance Blackwell said. She couldn’t go because she was sick.
“He was a really good father,” she said. “He always tried his best and to be there for us.”
