Sanitation worker killed in Ijamsville crash

Sep. 6—A sanitation worker was struck by a car and killed while on the job Wednesday morning, police said.

The worker was identified as 55-year-old Jose Gomes of Hagerstown. No one else was harmed in the crash, according to a Maryland State Police press release.

At around 5:30 a.m., Gomes was driving a 2023 Freightliner garbage truck along Green Valley Road in Ijamsville.

After stopping in the 2400 block, Gomes and 28-year-old Jose Flores Sanchez of Gaithersburg exited the vehicle to retrieve garbage cans on the side of the road.

A 2006 Subaru Outback traveling north struck Gomes and rear-ended the garbage truck, police said. The driver of the Subaru was identified as 53-year-old Osman Perez Mollo of Oxon Hill in Prince George's County.

Both Perez Mollo and Flores Sanchez remained at the scene of the crash. In an email to The Frederick News-Post, state police confirmed that multiple 911 calls were made and that one of the involved individuals called for assistance.

Gomes was taken by ambulance to Frederick Health Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

As a result of the crash, a section of Green Valley Road between Lewisdale Road and Prices Distillery Road was shut down for approximately four hours. The State Highway Administration helped redirect traffic.

A state police crash team was investigating the cause of the crash. The Frederick County State's Attorney's Office will decide whether to file charges based on the findings of the crash team, police said.

According to Frederick County spokesperson Vivian Laxton, Frederick County contracts with haulers for curbside recycling, but not for household waste.

The county's recycling hauler, ESI, confirmed that all of its drivers returned safely from their routes on Wednesday, Laxton said. State police could not confirm which trash hauler Gomes worked for.