Rear-End Crash on Rockville Pike Turns Fatal

One moment, a woman whose car rear-ended another vehicle on Rockville Pike on Wednesday morning was talking with county police officers about the incident.

The next, Patricia Greer Parks, 56, was being rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, county police said in a news release.

Officers from the police department’s 2nd District responded to the incident at the intersection of Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road at 7:35 a.m. Upon arrival, officers found both drivers out of their cars and walking around, the release said.

Ellen Margaret Girdharry, 51, of the 500 block of Lincoln Street in Rockville, was driving a gold 2005 Ford Taurus southbound on Rockville Pike near Mid-Pike Plaza when she slowed for traffic, police said. A green 2000 Chrysler Sebring driven by Parks, of the 18200 block of Rolling Meadow Way in Olney, struck the Taurus from behind, the release said.

The incident seemed like “a simple property damage collision initially,” said Officer Janelle Smith, a county police spokeswoman.

An ambulance was not called until Parks complained of pain as she spoke with officers on the scene. She lost consciousness in an ambulance en route to the hospital.

“It doesn’t seem like the crash would have caused [death],” Smith said.

It will be up to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore to determine a cause of death, she said.

The county police department’s Collision Reconstruction Unit is investigating the traffic incident. Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to call 301-840-2435. Callers may remain anonymous.