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Illegal Maryland drag race turns deadly for spectators

A car plowed into a group of street-racing fans obscured by a cloud of tire smoke on a highway, killing eight people and scattering bodies in the early morning darkness on Saturday.

At least five others were injured in the gruesome wreck along a flat, isolated stretch of highway about 32km south of Washington known for illegal races.

About 50 people were gathered before dawn along Route 210 as two cars spun their wheels, kicked up smoke and sped off, said Prince George's County police Corporal Clinton Copeland.

Fans had spilled onto the smoky, dark road to watch the cars drive away when a white Ford Crown Victoria unexpectedly came up from behind and smashed into them.

"There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, whose father was killed.

Police interviewed the Crown Victoria driver, but no charges were pending, Copeland said. Authorities were looking for the drivers of the two cars involved in the race.

The combination of the smoke and the dark morning likely meant the unsuspecting driver could not see the crowd, police said.

A tractor-trailer that came by shortly afterward may also have struck someone on the roadside as it tried to avoid the crash scene, according to investigators.

The Crown Victoria, which had a crumpled hood and a partially collapsed roof, ended up down an embankment with one of the victims lodged inside.

Bodies covered by white sheets lay in the road and on the shoulder across a 15m stretch of the road on Saturday morning before they were removed by the medical examiner.

Shoes were strewn about in the grass, and a pair of dark skid marks scarred the highway.

"It's probably one of the worst scenes I've seen," Copeland said. "This is a situation that could have been avoided, and it's a very tragic situation."

About 50 people were watching the race, Gaines said, and she saw the Crown Victoria approach without its lights on. She grabbed her daughter, pulling the girl to safety. But her father, William Gaines Sr, 61, had a broken leg, and was not able to get away in time. Afterward, she found his body on the road.

"His body was in pieces," she said.

The victims' ages ranged from their 20s to 60s, police said. Seven people were pronounced dead at the scene, and an eighth died later at a hospital.
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