By Tina Reed
Maryland Gazette
ANNAPOLIS —An off-duty Howard County police officer has been charged with reckless and negligent driving in a June car accident that injured four in Pasadena, records show.
Symchay Kon Bendu, of Laurel, was also charged with four counts of second-degree assault in addition to the driving charges.
The accident occurred in the area of eastbound Route 100 and southbound Route 10.
A preliminary investigation by Anne Arundel County Police indicated Bendu was attempting to make an illegal U-turn on Route 100 near Route 10 at the time of the crash.
Two girls were airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries from the accident. Driver Jamie Marie Butler, 31, of Brooklyn Park, and passenger Charlie Norfolk, 34, of Brooklyn Park, were also taken with injures that weren’t life-threatening to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
Bendu was not injured, police said at the time. Bendu was on duty at the time the accident occurred. Police said he was unfamiliar with the area and was attempting to return to Howard County.
Bendu is scheduled for an arraignment on Sept. 9.
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