Teen baseball player hurt in crash on I-280

7/25/2002

A Maryland teenager heading for a youth baseball game was hurt yesterday when a flatbed semi and a car collided on northbound I-280 at I-75, closing northbound I-280 for an hour, authorities said.

Jeffery Puff, 16, of Hampstead, Md., a center fielder for a Baltimore-area team, was treated at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. He was a passenger in a car transporting players to Novi, Mich., to play in a tournament.

James Kahline, 42, of Hampstead, had just pulled the car out into the only lane open for traffic in the construction area on northbound I-280 about 1:45 p.m. when his car collided with a northbound semi.

Mr. Kahline was cited for failure to control his vehicle, police said.

Neither Mr. Kahline nor semi driver John Bowersmith, of Edison, Ohio, was hurt.