'It's very dangerous.' Man dies, 2 others hurt in crash on Central Avenue in Seat Pleasant

SEAT PLEASANT, Md. (7News) — A 28-year-old man is dead after he was involved in a three-vehicle crash in Seat Pleasant Monday evening. Two other drivers suffered minor, non-life-threatening injuries.

According to the Seat Pleasant Police Department, the crash happened around 5 p.m. at the intersection of Central Avenue and Ritchie Road, just south of FedEx Field.

Police said the driver of a pick-up truck was headed east on Central Avenue when he struck the rear of 28-year-old Jose Hernandez Chavez's car causing him to hit another driver while waiting at a traffic light.

Chavez was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

"So, I just heard this sound, 'pow!'" exclaimed Ismaila Abdul, who owns a car storage lot right near the crash site.

The 43-year-old businessman told 7News that Central Avenue is beginning to resemble a race track.

"It's very dangerous. I'm not going to lie to you. It's very dangerous," he said. "So, we need like two or three cameras, especially at this traffic light. They're supposed to install a traffic camera."

Both the eastbound and westbound side of Central Avenue was closed for several hours. That kept adjacent businesses like McDonald's, KFC, and a few gas stations quiet. 7News spoke with a truck driver who had to park his tractor-trailer at the police line as he was unable to deliver to a business within the secure perimeter.

Around a dozen McDonald's employees left the restaurant and watched as tow truck crews hauled away the wrecked vehicles. Central Avenue reopened just after 9 p.m.

On Friday, the Seat Pleasant Police Department tweeted that they installed a speed camera in the 6400 block of Central Avenue Eastbound, about one mile away from Monday's crash site.

Less than two weeks ago, on May 15, Prince George's County first responders were called to another deadly crash along the 9000 block of Central Avenue, in an unincorporated area of Capitol Heights. That wreck is less than one mile from Monday's fatal crash.

Moses Yogaraj, 71, of Temple Hills, Md. died in the May 15 crash. PGPD said Yogaraj was trying to make a left turn into a shopping center from westbound Central Avenue when he was struck by another car.