LA PLATA, Md. (November 25, 2007)—A 30-year-old La Plata woman is dead after being struck by a vehicle while retrieving her mail on Tuesday, November 20. Catherine Hope Batchelder, of Hawthorne Road, was transported to Med Star Hospital in Washington D.C. where she later succumbed to her injuries.
According to the Maryland State Police, La Plata Barrack, at approximately 4:19 p.m., a 1988 Mazda RX-7 was traveling eastbound on Hawthorne Road east of Mount Holly Place. The Mazda went off the road into a ditch. The vehicle then struck Batchelder who was retrieving mail from her mailbox.
The vehicle was driven by Merrill Eldon Colby, 57, of Bryans Road. Colby received no injuries.
Police list the determining factor in the incident as "Failure to drive in a single lane."