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Essex resident Joshua Zimmerman, 32, was sentenced to seven years in prison, followed by five years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and other charges in June.
On Dec. 27, 2020, at approximately 7:40 a.m, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources Officer was heading to work when he observed a Ford pickup truck that was laying on its side near 3440 Conowingo Road in the Village of Street, Harford State’s Attorney Albert Peisinger, Jr., said.
When the officer stopped at the scene to investigate, he found Zimmerman exiting from the driver's side of the truck, and the victim, Regina Welch, was unresponsive on the side of the road after being ejected from the vehicle.
She was airlifted to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma by helicopter and pronounced dead two days later on Dec. 29, 2020.
During the investigation into the crash, state police troopers said that Zimmerman’s speech was slurred and that “he could barely walk without assistance or falling and displayed constricted pupils, which is an indication of being under the influence of some type of drug.”
Peisinger said that he was transported to the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center and it was later determined that his blood contained alprazolam, methadone, fentanyl, cocaine, and benzoylecgonine (a cocaine metabolite).
Maryland State Police investigators said that the full investigation found that Zimmerman was driving a 2008 Ford F-150 truck north on Route 1 when it drifted off the right side of the roadway and into a grassy ditch and brush line and then struck a tree with its right front end.
The Ford continued through the ditch and rolled over onto its left side near Conowingo Road, at which point Welch was ejected from the truck, causing her fatal injuries.
Zimmerman had faced up to 10 years in prison on the vehicular manslaughter charge. According to the DA, if Zimmerman violates his probation, he will be sentenced to an additional three years in prison.
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