A Maryland state trooper is injured Monday morning after police say an allegedly impaired driver struck his vehicle near a construction zone on Interstate 495 in Montgomery County.
A spokesperson with state police told WTOP a trooper was parked monitoring some construction work on the Inner Loop after University Boulevard at around 4:30 a.m. when the crash happened.
A driver of a Mercedes SUV — identified as 31-year-old Anthony Bowser, of D.C. — struck the back of the trooper’s vehicle while he was inside. The police vehicle had its emergency lights on at the time of the crash, police said.
The trooper was hospitalized at a trauma center with non-life-threatening. Bowser was also taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Charges are pending for Bowser who police suspect was operating the SUV while impaired.
Update – Beltway IL I495 between Colesville & New Hampshire, collision, @MCFRS_EMIHS transported several patients, incl (Trooper) 1 adult Pri 2 trauma NLT & 1 adult Pri3 NLT, some lanes blocked pic.twitter.com/gJQn4B9P6e
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) May 22, 2023
Police haven’t identified the injured trooper but report that they left the trauma late Monday night.
Partial closures lasted for hours on the Beltway Inner Loop Monday morning, causing major delays near Silver Spring. As of 10 a.m., all lanes have reopened and delays have eased, WTOP Traffic reports.