O'Malley Laments Death of Child in Accident

broke from his speech Thursday outlining his administration's major accomplishments from 2011 and became emotional after mentioning the death of a 5-year-old who died in a motor vehicle accident Wednesday. 

O'Malley was detailing the declining death rates pertaining to homicides—juvenile, Baltimore city and statewide—as well as fire deaths and traffic deaths before acknowledging the "tragic day on our highways yesterday."

Watch the video to see the governor's statement. 

At around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, four cars traveling northbound on Interstate 83 toward Timonium , forcing a Medevac transport for two children who were badly injured in the crash. 

One of the children, 5-year-old Jake Owen, died as a result of his injuries. O'Malley pointed out during his speech that Owen was the nephew of Steve Kearney, O'Malley's former communications director in City Hall and in the State House. 

Traffic deaths statewide are down 7 percent, according to O'Malley.

"And every one of those in important," he said. 

Find out more about the life of Jake Owen and what he meant to his South Baltimore neighborhood by reading Peter Hermann's story in the Baltimore Sun.