Left: Lydia Hanson (Carroll County State”s Attorney’s Office). Right: Richard Snyder (Fletcher Funeral Home).
A Maryland woman has been sentenced to nine years in prison for driving under the influence and causing a fatal accident, just a day after being charged with a DUI in a nearby location.
Lydia Hanson, 32, was handed the sentence following her conviction on April 1 for negligent automobile manslaughter, resulting in the death of 78-year-old Richard Snyder, as announced by the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office to Law&Crime.
In addition to the manslaughter conviction, Hanson was also found guilty of a previous DUI incident, for which she received a suspended one-year prison sentence.
The tragic incident occurred on March 16, 2025, when Hanson was driving a Volkswagen southbound on Route 97, while Snyder was heading north in his Chevrolet truck, according to a report from the prosecuting agency. Witnesses described Hanson’s driving as “erratic,” with speeds reaching up to 99 mph.
During the reckless drive, Hanson veered into the northbound lane, forcing several vehicles to swerve to avoid collisions before crashing head-on into Snyder’s truck.
Maryland State Police troopers responded to the accident site, located north of Maryland Route 26, at around 2 p.m. on the day of the crash, according to their statement. Snyder was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Hanson was flown by a helicopter to a regional trauma center. According to the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office, she “refused a blood test to determine her blood alcohol content.”
Troopers, however, secured a search warrant for the test, and once they took her blood and tested it, they discovered she had a blood alcohol content of 0.34, more than four times the legal limit. Investigators also determined that the speed limit where she was driving 99 mph at the time of the crash was 55 mph.
“Incredibly, the defendant had also been stopped for DUI the day prior and within a few miles of where the collision occurred,” prosecutors said.
The judge himself was critical of Hanson’s actions.
“These are the worst facts I have seen in any of these cases,” he said. “You didn’t intend to kill the victim, but you did intend the behavior that led up to it. The day before you were arrested and charged, you would think that would have been a wake-up call to you, and it wasn’t.”
Snyder is remembered in his obituary as having been “a lifelong car enthusiast, auto body and fender mechanic” who “could take apart and rebuild an entire car, but couldn’t quite get the hang of a remote to turn on his beloved car shows on TV.”
He left behind a wife, who he was married to for 52 years.
