By Candace Rondeaux
Washington Post
BELTSVILLE, Md. — A driver who led police on a chase in Prince George’s County early this morning was killed when he lost control and struck a tree in the Beltsville area, authorities said. It was the county’s second fatal car crash involving a police chase in less than three months.
The incident began about 1:45 a.m. when a Cheverly police officer patrolling the area near the intersection of Cheverly Avenue and Arbor Street saw two men exit a silver minivan, said Lt. Joseph Frohlich, a spokesman for the Cheverly police.
The officer, whose name has not been released, became suspicious when the pair walked toward a 7-11 store that has been the target of recent armed robberies, Frohlich said. As the officer approached, the men quickly walked quickly away from the store and toward the van, Frohlich said. They disappeared into a wooded area, he said, and the van pulled away.
Frohlich said the driver then ignored the officer’s attempt to pull him over, turning onto Kenilworth Avenue northbound near Riverdale Road. The officer contacted county dispatchers, and officers from the Prince George’s, Greenbelt and Riverdale police departments soon joined the chase.
Several minutes later, as the driver attempted to pass a car traveling northbound on Edmonston Road, the van struck a tree near the intersection of Powder Mill Road. The driver, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured.
Three months ago, two men were killed on the Capital Beltway after a Prince George’s police officer collided with an SUV during an attempt to stop a speeding motorcyclist. Law enforcement sources have said that veteran county police officer Scott Campbell violated the department’s pursuit policy by not calling in the May 30 chase.
In a separate incident, two people were injured in a multi-vehicle crash on July 2 after a driver led authorities on a high-speed chase from Prince George’s County into the District.
That incident began when Prince George’s County sheriff’s deputies attempted to serve a 23-year-old man with an arrest warrant for stalking, according to the sheriff’s department. D.C. police officers picked up the pursuit after several Prince George’s sheriff’s cruisers broke off the chase near the District-Prince George’s border. The driver and one other person suffered non-life threatening injuries when the car crashed into three vehicles at Douglas Street NE and 31st Street in the District, police said.
Months earlier, three people were injured in a crash after Prince George’s officers picked up a chase initiated by D.C. police following a carjacking in the District on Feb. 10, police said. A county officer who was going to the chase near Central Avenue and Addison Road in Seat Pleasant collided with a vehicle carrying a 35-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl. None suffered life-threatening injuries.
Copyright 2007 The Washington Post