An Anne Arundel County Police officer allegedly chased a man four miles into Howard County in August and then fled the scene when the man died in an accident, state prosecutors say.

Officer Alexander Rodriguez, 30, a two-year veteran of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, was indicted Wednesday on charges of vehicular manslaughter, failure of a driver to remain at the scene of a fatal accident and five counts of misconduct in office, online court records show.

His is just the second case prosecuted by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division, which probes deaths at the hands of police and tries them in court. Lawmakers gave the office authority to prosecute police in 2023, years after creating the unit to investigate police-involved deaths.

Rodriguez does not have an attorney listed in online court records.

The attorney general’s office did not even begin investigating the case until four days after 21-year-old Joshua VanderZiel, of Laurel, died in a crash, because it was not immediately clear to detectives that an officer was involved.

Around 4 a.m. Aug. 10, VanderZiel was riding a motorcycle “at a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a flatbed truck on Washington Boulevard, the attorney general’s office said in a news release. “Mr. VanderZiel was killed on impact.”

The Howard County Police Department’s Accident Investigation Unit responded to the scene and handled the preliminary investigation. On Aug. 14, the attorney general’s office “received information from the Maryland State Police Crash Team that the crash may have been a police-involved death.”

Investigators with the attorney general’s office learned that Rodriguez, who was in his marked police cruiser, “engaged in a high-speed pursuit of Mr. VanderZiel” beginning in Anne Arundel County, continuing to Prince George’s County and ending with the collision in Howard.

Despite following VanderZiel more than four miles and traveling at speeds twice the posted limit, Rodriguez never activated his lights or sirens, notified dispatch of the pursuit or received permission to initiate the chase.

“After the fatal collision, Officer Rodriguez abruptly stopped his vehicle, made a U-turn, and sped southbound on Washington Boulevard,” prosecutors said. “He did not notify anyone or make a report of the collision, he did not remain on scene, and did not give aid. He returned to Anne Arundel County and continued his shift.”

In a statement, Attorney General Anthony Brown said he was “absolutely appalled that an officer would endanger a person’s life and then flee the scene of a fatal crash without offering aid or reporting the incident.”

“This disregard for human life and misconduct from a member of law enforcement is a betrayal of public trust that undermines the safety of communities that police are sworn to protect,” said Brown, a Democrat.

In a statement, the Anne Arundel County Police Department said it had fully cooperated with the attorney general’s investigation since being made aware of it in August.

“The alleged actions of Officer Rodriguez contained in this indictment are deeply disturbing and not representative of the men and women of the Anne Arundel County Police Department,” the agency said. “Our department will continue to cooperate with the Office of the Attorney General’s investigation.”

Anne Arundel police said they initially suspended Rodriguez with pay on Aug. 20, but will stop paying him following Wednesday’s indictment.

A police department spokesman said the agency’s policy for officer pursuits was not publicly available and referred further questions to the attorney general’s office.

Two other Anne Arundel officers’ indictments

Two other Anne Arundel County Police officers, Cpls. Kieran Schnell and Eddie Vasquez, were indicted in December on misconduct charges related to a 2023 crash in Pasadena that left 22-year-old Damione Gardner dead.

According to prosecutors, Vasquez and Schnell were in their patrol vehicles following a 2011 Infiniti G37 that was driving fast over the Stoney Creek Drawbridge without its lights on. The officers were also allegedly driving fast and did not turn on their emergency lights.

Shortly after they drove over the bridge, the Infiniti crashed into a utility pole at the intersection of Fort Smallwood and Bar Harbor roads, prosecutors said. They added that Schnell checked on the driver.

Vasquez is slated to go to trial in May. His attorney, Andrew Jezic, said his charges “were a huge surprise to nearly everyone familiar with the case.

“He’s an outstanding officer, a very, very nice guy and somebody who followed police procedure,” Jezic said. “What is very different from the Howard County case, is Cpl. Vasquez is not charged with any sort of manslaughter or any sort of reckless conduct. He’s charged with misconduct in office over statements that quibble over the definition of pursuit.”

Defense attorney Peter O’Neill, who represents Schnell, said it was “inappropriate to compare” the cases of Schnell and Vasquez to that of Rodriguez.

“We intend to plead not guilty and we will not have any plea discussions because Cpl. Schnell is innocent and we fully intend to litigate this case,” O’Neill said.

When the attorney general’s office announced the charges against Vasquez and Schnell, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad said she and her command staff had reviewed all the evidence available to them and were “not aware of any conduct demonstrated by our officers that rises to the level of a violation of criminal law.”

“We respect the judicial process, however, it is important to remind our community that an indictment is merely an accusation and not a finding of guilt, and our officers are presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Awad said.