Dozens of Montgomery County, Maryland, police officers were honored Thursday for their lifesaving and heroic acts; among them was a group that raced to help a fellow officer as they attempted to stop a speeding driver in October.
Montgomery County police officers Matthew Duerr, Julian Martinez, Nicole Seymour, Diane Burkes and Andre Smith were honored for their actions after Sgt. Patrick Kepp was hit by the driver on Interstate 270 last October.
Kepp, who lost both legs as a result of the crash and walks with the aid of a cane, stood on stage, giving hugs to each officer as their actions at the scene of the crash were detailed by Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones.
“I’m so grateful to be standing and be walking in here and be able to, you know, be up there on stage with them for all that they did for me,” Kepp said.
“They acted without hesitation and without fail and obviously saved my life.”
After the ceremony at Montgomery County Police Headquarters in Gaithersburg, Martinez told reporters while he appreciated the honor, his actions that night were simply a reflection of the training he’s gone through as an officer.
“Why we all signed up is to do the best we can to help out the citizens of Montgomery County and anyone that comes through it,” Martinez said.
Seeing Kepp in uniform and walking is part of a greater recovery, Martinez said.
“I know in my heart that he’s going to do whatever he can to get back on the road and I have no doubts that he’ll get there,” Martinez said.
And that’s exactly Kepp’s plan. He’s still fully engaged in his recovery, he said, but eventually he’ll be back on patrol.
“Talking to my doctors and everything, everyone sees that there’s no reason that I won’t be back at work full time, doing exactly what I was doing,” Kepp said. “I’ll be back on the road, locking up impaired drivers” and trying, he said, to make the roads safe for everyone.
Elrich wants to get tougher reckless driving laws passed
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich pledged that his administration would join state lawmakers and return to Annapolis next year to push for passage of bills to crack down on reckless drivers.
“We’ll go back there again next year until we get this right,” Elrich said during the awards ceremony Thursday.
He explained, “We were in the legislature trying to get them to pass laws that would stiffen the penalties and further criminalize drivers, like the driver who ultimately hit Sgt. Kepp.”
The driver accused of intentionally hitting Sgt. Kepp, 19-year-old Raphael Mayorga of Frederick, is facing more than dozen charges, including attempted murder, assault and eluding a police officer.
Elich was referring to two pieces of legislation that failed to get out of committee during the General Assembly session that just ended.
One of the bills, HB-1111, would have expanded the definition of “reckless endangerment” to include reckless use of a motor vehicle. That would subject drivers guilty of reckless use of a vehicle to up to five years in jail and $5,000 in fines.
HB-1160 would have expanded acts that would meet the standard of reckless driving to people who drive at 90 mph or more. A driver found guilty in that case could be imprisoned for up to a year and face up to $5,000 in fines.
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