North East, MD : Car crashes into brick column in front of North East store on Sunday, September 21, 2014

A man remained hospitalized on Monday, a day after the car he was driving in a North East shopping center parking lot crashed into a brick column in front of a pharmacy, police reported. A Maryland State Police helicopter flew the man, whom investigators identified as North East-area resident Richard Allen Russell, 60, to University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Unit in Baltimore after the accident, which occurred about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at Northeast Station in the 2500 block of West Pulaski Highway, according to North East Police Department Chief Darrell Hamilton. Russell was listed in "fair" condition at that trauma center on Monday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman reported. Investigators believe that Russell suffered an incapacitating medical episode while behind the wheel of his 2007 Chevrolet, police said. After losing control of his car, the vehicle glanced off an unoccupied parked car and then crashed into a brick pillar in front of the Walgreens Pharmacy, police added. The car did not strike any pedestrians, nor did it crash into the store, which stands a few feet behind the column that the vehicle struck, police reported. “It appears that he had some sort of medical issue and blanked out behind the wheel,” Hamilton said, adding that he didn't know if the driver required medical treatment because of his medical issue or because of injuries he may have suffered in the crash. NEPD Cpl. Dennis Wood is investigating the accident. Source : Car crashes into brick column in front of North East store