No charges will be filed against Montgomery County police officers involved in a Dec. 13 pursuit that led to a fatal crash in Wheaton, according to a Wednesday press release from Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown.
The Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division completed its inquiry into the crash that resulted in the death of a juvenile male on May 20, the release said, and the Office of the Attorney General determined that none of the officers involved in the pursuit committed a crime. The office subsequently declined to charge any of the officers.
At approximately 10:15 p.m. on Dec. 13, county officers attempted a traffic stop on a white Nissan Maxima in the area of Georgia Avenue and Plyers Mill Road in Wheaton, according to authorities.
Sgt. Kevin McGlamary, as well as officers Andrew Synan, Ian Hamilton, Daniel Garcia, and Aaron Bachofsky, were on the scene and “used their individual unmarked patrol vehicles to surveil a white Nissan Maxima that they believed was suspicious” behind a shopping center on the 2200 block of Bel Pre Road, according to the division’s report.
The 19-year-old driver of the Nissan fled the traffic stop and later fled a second attempted stop in the area of Bucknell Drive and Cambridge Park Court in Wheaton, striking a marked county police cruiser in the process. The cruiser, assigned to county police Officer Anders Johnson, was disabled after the collision.
Synan then pursued the Nissan northbound on Georgia Avenue for about 1.5 miles, according to the attorney general’s office. Then at the intersection of Georgia and Henderson avenues, the driver hit a median, lost control and entered the southbound lanes of Georgia Avenue where it collided with two cars, according to the attorney general’s office.
The vehicles struck were a Toyota Corolla and Honda Pilot, police said.
Body camera footage from officers shows that the Nissan flipped onto its side, airbags deployed and the front windshield was shattered.
As shown in his body-worn camera footage, county police Officer Antonio Ruiz repeatedly yelled “County police! Show me your hands!” as he and other officers approached the driver with their guns drawn.
According to the release, the driver of the Nissan was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while the passenger, a juvenile male, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The drivers and one passenger of the other vehicles involved sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to local hospitals.
No officers were injured in the incident, the release added.
The release did not identify the juvenile male who died or his age. It also did not say if charges related to the crash would be filed against the driver of the Nissan.
County police and the attorney general’s office did not provide any further information about the victim or the Nissan driver after a request by MoCo360 on Wednesday afternoon.