Driver pleads guilty in fatal Prince George's crash that killed 3-year-old

Larry Naylor’s guilty plea put a criminal conviction behind one of Prince George’s County’s most painful crashes, but it left the hardest question for Zoey Harrison’s family: what punishment will actually follow a 3-year-old’s death?

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Tara Jackson announced May 8 that Naylor pleaded guilty to grossly negligent manslaughter by motor vehicle in the death of Zoey, who was killed after a March 7, 2025 crash that began as a police pursuit. Naylor, 40, has been scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 2, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The crash unfolded around 6:25 p.m. after a District Heights police officer tried to stop an Infiniti SUV in the 6000 block of Marlboro Pike. Police said the driver later struck four vehicles in the 1200 block of Addison Road South in Capitol Heights. Zoey was riding in one of the vehicles with her mother, Tanishia Harrison, when the collision happened. Zoey was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead, while her mother was hospitalized with injuries that were reported as non-life-threatening.

Naylor was initially charged in October 2025, months after the crash, and prosecutors’ decision to secure a guilty plea now gives Zoey’s family a formal legal finding that his conduct crossed the line from reckless driving into grossly negligent manslaughter. It does not restore what was lost, but it does move the case from investigation to sentencing, where the court will decide whether the final punishment matches the gravity of a child’s death on county roads.

The case also became part of a broader county debate over whether dangerous pursuits are being handled aggressively enough to deter deadly outcomes. In November 2025, the Prince George’s County Council passed Zoey’s Law, named for Zoey Harrison and introduced by Vice Chair Krystal Oriadha. The measure requires annual reporting on vehicle pursuits and seeks to standardize pursuit policy across county and municipal agencies, a sign that leaders saw the crash as more than an isolated tragedy.

Zoey’s family also filed a lawsuit seeking $75,000 for wrongful death and negligence against Prince George’s County, the District Heights Police Department, the Capitol Heights Police Department, and Naylor. Together, the plea, the lawsuit, and the new law show how a single evening on Marlboro Pike and Addison Road South forced Prince George’s County to confront both accountability in the courtroom and the limits of deterrence on the street.