Officer Struck by a Cruiser Dies

ASPEN HILL, Md. - A Montgomery County Police officer who was struck by a police cruiser died early Thursday.

Officer Luke T. Hoffman, 24, died at R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Montgomery County Police say Hoffman, who was hired in 2006, was a top graduate in his academy class. The 4th District officer worked the midnight shift. He was a graduate of McDaniel College and was trained as a firefighter and an EMT.

Hoffman was chasing a drunken driving suspect on foot when he was accidentally struck Wednesday morning by a cruiser driven by Stephen J. Wofsey, 26.

The cruiser went down an embankment and into a tree. Wofsey had been hospitalized but has since been released from Shock Trauma.

The chase occurred just before 1:30 a.m. in the area of Bel Pre Road and Tynewich Drive in Aspen Hill.

"It wasn't really a long pursuit. It wasn't a high speed pursuit. The (suspect) driver was actually moving really slow prior to when he stopped his vehicle and got out and ran," says Montgomery County police lieutenant Eric Burnett.

Police say the driver drove into the parking lot of an apartment complex at Dunsinane Drive and Tynewich Drive opposite Leisure World. The suspect stopped, bailed out, and started running through the woods onto Old Georgia Avenue.

Police now say Hoffman was struck after he crossed Old Georgia Avenue, in the 14700 block near Montpelier Road.

Earlier, police had believed Hoffman was struck while crossing Old Georgia Avenue.

"It's a very dark road, a very dimly lit road, one of the reasons the officer couldn't see him (the officer)."

The suspect police were chasing has been charged, but not with drunken driving.

Police late Wednesday charged Ruel F. Dempster, 19, of the 3600 block of Bel Pre Road, with reckless endangerment, three counts of fleeing and eluding police, and four counts of hit and run for striking parked vehicles.

Police say additional charges are still under investigation.

Sources tell WTOP investigators are trying to determine whether the facts would support more serious charges ranging from drunken driving to reckless endangerment to manslaughter.

Dempster is currently in the Montgomery County Detention Center being held on $250,000 bond

Meanwhile, another police chase ended in a crash Wednesday morning in Prince George's County.

Two Prince George's County officers were chasing a suspect in a speeding sport utility vehicle when they got into an accident with another car at Rock Creek Church Road and Fifth Street in Northwest D.C.

The cruiser caught on fire. Both officers managed to get out safely. The driver of the other car is hospitalized.

The blue Toyota SUV the cops were following got away.

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