By Gus G. Sentementes
The Baltimore Sun
Read Officer Down: Officer First Class Scott Wheeler
SAVAGE, Md. — A Howard County police officer died early this morning from injuries he sustained after he was struck by a car he tried to pull over for speeding Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
Howard police said Pfc. Scott Wheeler, a 6 1/2-year veteran, was working a speed enforcement detail on Route 32 near U.S. 1 when he and two other officers tried to stop a Nissan Sentra about 2 p.m. Police said the car’s driver was suspected of speeding.
Wheeler was standing in the road to flag down cars that other officers using radar flagged for a traffic infraction. Investigators believe the driver — a 24-year-old woman whose name was not released -- did not see Wheeler before he was struck. Charges against the driver have not been filed.
Wheeler suffered “significant head trauma,” and was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center for treatment, where he was until he died today.
The officer was married in September and worked night shifts in the county’s southern police district, based in Laurel. He was named Howard County’s Police Officer of the Month in December 2002, in part for thwarting an armed robbery at a restaurant in Columbia.
Howard County Police Chief William McMahon has scheduled a news conference this morning at 10 a.m. to discuss the officer’s death.
Copyright 2007 The Baltimore Sun