2 Die in Road-Rage Crash on I-270

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 12, 2007; Page B01

The young couple in the convertible were headed to a North Carolina beach house when they crossed paths with a man in a green pickup truck south of Frederick yesterday morning.

The two male drivers got into a spat, police said, "exchanging obscene gestures" as they whizzed south on Interstate 270 during the thick of rush hour.

Near the Urbana exit, in an apparent attempt to have the last word, police said, the pickup driver slammed on his brakes when the Chrysler Sebring convertible was on the truck's tail, prompting the convertible's driver to swerve right. The convertible slammed against the guardrail, flipped over and barreled into an embankment shortly after 8 a.m.

The driver, Christian M. Luciano, 28, and his girlfriend, Lindsay L. Bender, 25, both of Harrisburg, Pa., were ejected from the car and died almost instantly, police said.

The driver of the pickup sped away. Police are searching for him.

Maryland State Police troopers described the driver as a white male in his 30s with dark, collar-length hair who was wearing a dark baseball cap. The driver was behind the wheel of a light-green late 1990s or early 2000 model Chevy Silverado standard-cab truck with a diamond-pattern rear bumper, said Trooper 1st Class Eric Corbin, one of the investigating officers.

"We're definitely looking for anyone with information of his whereabouts," Corbin said.

Police encourage anyone with information about the crash or the driver of the pickup truck to contact police at 301-644-4151.

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