WUSA Fire/EMS Audio of I-95 Crash,
courtesy ScanMD
BELTSVILLE, Md. (WUSA) - A 23-year-old police officer is dead and another one was injured in a crash on Interstate 95 at Powder Mill Road on Monday afternoon.
The officers were reacting to a call of an auto theft investigation when they got a description of a suspects vehicle, a silver Acura with temporary tags, police said.
The theft happened in the Laurel/Beltsville area, when the Laurel police put out the description of the car, police said.
When the crash victims saw the vehicle on I-95, they tried to give chase to catch up to the car, police said.
Somehow, they lost control of their police cruiser and veered off the road. The officer who died in the crash was driving the police car and was ejected after the car crashed into the railing. He suffered massive head injuries and was pronounced at the hospital, police said.
The name of the officer who died is not being released, until police can contact the rest of his family.
The officer who died in the crash was a Prince George's County "Police Explorer." The Explorer program invites children to experience different aspects of law enforcement and train to become a police officer.
Prince George's County Police Chief Mark Magaw said many of the officers in the department knew the deceased officer since he was 15 years old, making it extremely difficult for them.