This story was updated at 2 p.m. Feb. 21, 2012.

Prince George’s County police identified the woman who died after she lost control of her vehicle on Martin Luther King Jr. Highway and drove into a Landover Kentucky Fried Chicken parking lot Monday night, injuring two others.

The incident occurred about 6:30 p.m. at the corner of Sheriff Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Highway when Hellena Louise Smith, 29, was driving her BMW sedan at a "high rate of speed" and lost control, striking a man in his parked sport utility vehicle, said Cpl. Evan Baxter, a county police spokesman.

Cpl. Henry Tippett said the driver of the SUV was backing his vehicle out from a parking space when the BMW drove into the parking lot, crashing into the SUV and the restaurant.

“The BMW was traveling at a high speed down MLK Boulevard and for some reason the driver lost control,” Tippet said.

Smith was ejected from the BMW and died on the scene, Tippett said.

The man who was inside his SUV was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Baxter said.

Tippett said the passenger of the BMW, a 31-year-old unidentified man, was also taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash is still under investigation, Tippett said, as police are trying to determine what caused the incident.

nmcgill@gazette.net

djgross@gazette.net