Family and friends of DeCarlo Thomas made a solemn pilgrimage on Sunday to a spot adjacent to Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg to put up a memorial in his memory.
It’s as close as they could safely get to where Thomas was killed last month.
Maryland State Police said Thomas survived a single-car rollover crash on I-270 just after 9:15 p.m. March 13. He was hit by another car after climbing out of the wreckage, and died on the scene. He was 36.
“It’s hard when you lose a loved one. It is hard,” one woman said through tears. “We were inseparable. He was my buddy before we got together … It’s nice to have this spot here now that I can come and sit and talk to him in my car or whatever I need to do.”
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. >Sign up here.
One woman at the memorial said the most immediate thing that someone could do if they saw a crash while driving is slow down to avoid another tragedy.
“It’s very difficult to accept his passing because he was so young: 36 years old. Life was just beginning for him,” Barbara Dorsey, Thomas’ aunt, said.
Loved ones said they hope the memorial will serve as a message of safety and vigilance on the roads to motorists who never knew Thomas. They also hope it will be a reminder to those who design, maintain and regulate the roadways.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
“They need to do something on these roads to make them safer. You can’t have a flat tire — there’s nowhere to pull over at, you take your chance, playing Russian roulette with your own life,” Lawrence Johnson, Thomas’ father, said.
