A van driven by a 13-year-old struck and killed the driver of another car in Germantown on Tuesday.
At around 5:25 a.m., county police officers and fire rescue services were dispatched to the intersection of Great Seneca Highway and Clopper Road for the report of a serious crash.
Once at the scene, officers found both vehicles with extensive damage. The driver of a blue Toyota Matrix, who was revealed to be 58-year-old William Vance Payne II, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead on scene.
The Toyota was struck by a white Kia Optima occupied by 7 young people ranging from 12 to 15 years old, including four girls and three boys.
The initial findings revealed the Kia Optima was stolen from a county residence several hours before the crash. The Kia entered the intersection and hit the Toyota Matrix driving on Clopper Road.
The reported driver of the Kia, a 13-year-old boy, was brought to an area hospital in critical but stable condition. The other occupants sustained injuries of varying severity and were brought to several trauma centers.
The circumstances leading up the crash are still under investigation.
MCM will update the story as more information becomes available.
Update – Clopper Rd & Great Seneca Hwy, Germantown, collision, @mcfrs @MCFRS_EMIHS @mcpnews including dozens of rescue workers on scene, multiple patients, some w/ traumatic injury, NOTE: Clopper Rd & Great Seneca Hwy will be ‘shut down’ CLOSED https://t.co/hK8nUnJECy pic.twitter.com/Ue9WlYxV38
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) August 4, 2026
