Prince George's County Officer Shoots, Kills Man During Hyattsville Traffic Stop

A driver who bolted from a traffic stop near 23rd Avenue and Ager Road in the Chillum neighborhood of Hyattsville Thursday night, with a Prince George's County police lieutenant still partially inside his car, was shot by that lieutenant and killed when the vehicle crashed into a nearby pole. Two officers were left hospitalized, and the Maryland Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division opened an investigation before the night was over.

The shooting unfolded around 8:30 p.m. at the intersection with East-West Highway. A police lieutenant had initiated the stop and determined there was probable cause to search the vehicle, then waited for a second officer to arrive before proceeding. When backup arrived, the driver was asked to step out of the car; one officer stood with him while the lieutenant searched the interior.

Mid-search, the driver jumped back into the vehicle and attempted to flee. The officer standing outside was knocked to the ground. The lieutenant, who was "partially in, partially out of the vehicle," Police Chief George Nader said at a press conference Thursday night, fired his weapon and struck the driver. The car crashed into a pole. The driver was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Both officers were taken to a hospital with injuries described as significant but non-life-threatening.

Inside the car, officers found a large amount of marijuana stuffed into a laundry bag, Nader said. Police did not disclose why the man was initially stopped or whether he was armed.

"This is not the outcome that anybody wants," Nader said. "You never want to see life lost regardless of the circumstances, so I wish it could have been different. I wish that the suspect would have cooperated and let the scene play out, and if it led to an arrest, it led to an arrest. That's something he can dispute in court. When you try to dispute that in the street like this, it doesn't end well."

The names of the lieutenant who fired and the man who was killed had not been released as of Thursday night, though police said both were expected to be made public within a day or so. The IID, which handles officer-involved shootings in Maryland independently of local law enforcement, typically releases body-worn camera and dashcam footage within 20 days of an incident.