The Maryland attorney general’s office is investigating a crash that followed a police pursuit in Baltimore late Saturday night and left a 74-year-old female passenger dead.
The agency said in a news release Sunday that the probe will be led by its Independent Investigations Division, consistent with a 2021 state law that requires investigations of all police-involved fatalities in Maryland.
Baltimore City police said in a news release that officers late Saturday began searching for a vehicle linked to robberies in Westminster following a hit on a license plate reader. The attorney general’s office said the car was being sought in connection with an armed robbery in Westminster.
When city police located the vehicle in the 1000 block of West North Avenue and tried to pull it over, the driver took off, authorities said.
Officers pursued the vehicle from West Baltimore into downtown and then back through Johns Hopkins University. Officers appear to have been told at one point to break off the pursuit, according to emergency radio communications. The driver lost control of the car and struck a parked car before crashing into a tree in the 5000 block of Roland Ave. in Roland Park, authorities said.
The elderly woman, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver suffered injuries and was transported to a local hospital; he was expected to survive. Charges are pending.
The AG’s office said it typically releases the names of decedents and involved officers within 48 hours of an incident.
The Baltimore Police Department’s crash and special investigations teams responded, as did Westminster city police and the Maryland AG’s office, the police department said in its news release.
Anyone with information is asked to call BPD’s crash team at 410-396-2606.
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