One of two drivers involved in a deadly 2023 Baltimore work zone crash has pleaded guilty to six counts of involuntary manslaughter, closing another chapter in an incident that drew national attention to the growing risks facing highway construction workers.
Lisa Lea was charged with driving over 120 mph on I-695 on March 22, 2023, when she made an unsafe lane change and collided with another driver, who was also speeding. According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation, the collision sent Lea’s vehicle spinning through an access opening into the concrete barriers separating the travel lanes of a construction work zone on the left shoulder. The vehicle overturned and hit six workers before coming to a stop. The victims, five employees of the contractor Concrete General Inc. and an inspector from KCI Technologies Inc., died of their injuries.
Lea told investigators she had suffered a seizure immediately before the crash. Although he had a history of seizures and was found to have delta-9 THC and other drugs in his blood at the time of the incident, the NTSB investigation found no evidence of a sudden medical event.
Lea’s trial was scheduled and postponed twice before she appeared in Baltimore County Circuit Court on Nov. 4 to accept the plea deal. Initially facing 28 charges that could have led to 60 years in prison if convicted, he pleaded guilty to six counts of negligent vehicular homicide. In return, prosecutors have recommended a sentence of 24 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and 40 hours of community service. Sentencing will take place on January 30, 2026. Under Maryland law, Lea will be eligible for parole after serving a quarter of her sentence, which includes the 30 months she has already spent on house arrest.
The other driver in the incident, Melachi Brown, pleaded guilty in early 2024 to six counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was released after three months to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
Months after the accident, Maryland formed a 27-member task force to examine ways to improve work zone safety for workers and motorists. Led by Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, a former transportation engineer, the group issued 15 operational and regulatory recommendations, including the Maryland Highway Worker Protection Act of 2024, which expands the use of speed cameras in work zones and increases the penalty for traffic violations in those zones.
Those steps have not satisfied the family of Sybil DiMaggio, the KCI inspector. Shortly after the NTSB’s final report in October 2024 concluded that the incident was the result of excessive speed rather than the configuration of Concrete General’s work zone, DiMaggio’s family filed a lawsuit against the company and the Maryland State Highway Administration, alleging that safety measures were insufficient to protect workers from known hazards.
The lawsuit, which has yet to go to trial, cites alleged deficiencies such as having the immediately adjacent left lane open to traffic with no reduced speed limit while the work was being done, an out-of-position warning sign and a misplaced crash attenuator truck.
The full text of the NTSB’s final report is available here.
