A Montgomery County police officer has lost the use of his legs after the police chief says he was “intentionally” stuck by a teen driver who was reportedly trying to “provoke” officers into a chase on Interstate 270 early Wednesday morning.
The driver, 19-year-old Raphael Mayorga, of Frederick, is being charged with attempted first-degree murder in addition to other charges, Chief Marcus Jones said at an afternoon news conference.
Sgt. Patrick Kepp, 36, remains in “critical condition,” and has “lost the use of both of his legs,” Jones said.
Mayorga was speeding on the interstate early Wednesday while getting on and off both directions of the roadway from Clarksville through Rockville, police said. This is a tactic that Jones said Mayorga has used in the past to “provoke officers into chasing him” on roadways in the county.
“He does this intentionally to bait officers into chasing him as if this is some sort of a video game,” Jones said.
At one point Mayorga’s Dodge Challenger drove at more than 110 mph, Jones said.
Officers decided to intervene after Mayorga almost ran another driver off the road, Jones said.
Kepp parked his cruiser on the crossover of the interstate, just north of Watkins Mill Road, and got out to deploy “stop sticks” to deflate the tires of the Dodge Challenger at around 4 a.m., police said.
“The vehicle is observed actually intentionally moving from the middle lanes to the far left lanes and Mayorga came directly at Sgt. Kepp as he was deploying the ‘stop sticks,'” Jones said. “He intentionally struck Sgt. Kepp in the main lanes of I-270.”
The Dodge Challenger then kept driving and was stopped further down the road on I-270, where Sgt. Andre Smith had deployed a second set of stop sticks.
Mayorga was taken into custody. A second person in the vehicle wasn’t charged and Jones said that person is being treated as a witness.
Originally, police had said Mayorga was suspected of driving while intoxicated: Jones said police are awaiting results in that regard.
Kepp suffered serious injuries and was transported to Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore in a medevac helicopter.
Mayorga was known to Kepp and other officers in the department, according to the police chief.
In a separate incident on May 26, Kepp arrested Mayorga and he was charged with traffic citations including reckless driving after driving 136 mph in a 55 mph zone on I-270, Jones said.
In the past, Jones said Mayorga has tried to get officers to chase him by doing “donuts” and by speeding through red lights nearby patrolling officers.
County Executive Marc Elrich said speeding with the intention of provoking a chase differs from other speeding incidents and puts other people at risk.
“This should not be treated as a regular traffic incident and we should talk to our legislators about a way of criminalizing this in a different way,” Elrich said.
Mayorga’s bond hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Kepp has worked for the department since 2014. He’s been acknowledged in the past for his efforts to prevent impaired driving and has received awards for his work with the alcohol initiatives unit twice in recent years, according to the police department.
Investigators continued working at the scene into the morning rush, and all northbound lanes reopened around 9:30 a.m.
A map of the area of the crash is below:
