Published: October 13, 2008 02:47 pm         

Head-on crash with suspected drunken driver injures prison personnel

Accident on I-68 sends three correctional officers to Memorial Hospital

CUMBERLAND — Three Maryland prisons correctional officers were injured in a head-on collision early Monday on Interstate 68 that Maryland State Police said was the result of alleged drunken driving by a West Virginia woman.

Garland Leasure and two female officers, whose identities were not available, were taken to Memorial Hospital following the 1:43 a.m. mishap.

Police said the injuries were apparently not life-threatening but that all three officers had been admitted to the hospital. The officers were reportedly returning to Cumberland after working their shift at a Hagerstown prison when the crash occurred.

A Ford Escape operated by 50-year-old Judy R. Yost of Gerrardstown, W.Va., traveling eastbound in the westbound lane, collided with a Pontiac passenger vehicle operated by Leasure.

Yost, who apparently was not injured, was charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving, failure to drive on the right half of a divided highway and not wearing a seat belt, police said.

Following her arrest, Yost was jailed until Monday afternoon when she posted $5,000 for her pretrial release, according to a spokesman at the Allegany County Detention Center.

Flintstone Ambulance and Orleans Volunteer Fire Company also responded.

Mark Vernarelli, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said the officers had worked the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift at the Maryland Correctional Training Center and were returning to the Cumberland area when the accident occurred.

“Thank God none of their injuries were serious,” said Vernarelli, who could not immediately provide the identities of the female officers.

He said all three officers are in their first year of employment with the Division of Correction.