The man who ran over a Montgomery County, Maryland, officer on Interstate 270 nearly two years ago was sentenced Wednesday to more than 22 years in prison.
Sgt. Patrick Kepp was trying to put down stop sticks across the road in October 2023 when then 19-year-old Raphael Mayorga plowed into him at more than 160 miles per hour, according to police and prosecutors. Doctors had to amputate both of Kepp’s legs after the crash.
The two actually knew each other by face, thanks to previous traffic stops, during which Mayorga had earned a reputation around the region for speed and recklessness behind the wheel.
Montgomery County police were more than familiar with Mayorga’s lime green Dodge Challenger. During sentencing, prosecutors introduced body camera video of officers, who in previous months had warned Mayorga that he would kill himself or someone else.
”He ignored every warning. This was a game to him. He was a street racer, and that’s what he did, and he did it for money,” said state’s attorney John McCarthy in a post-sentencing news conference.
In April, a jury found the Frederick native guilty on 13 different charges in the case, but it acquitted him on the charge of attempted murder. Mayorga received the maximum penalty of 22 years and 60 days in prison.
“This was a tragic case that never should’ve happened,” Judge Harry Storm said at the sentencing hearing. “You cared not a bit about the dangers you pose to police in the public.”
Kepp: ‘I have to put my legs on every day because of intentional acts’
On the morning of Oct. 18, 2023, Kepp was trying to stop Mayorga, who was suspected of driving drunk and trying to “provoke” officers into a chase on I-270. Kepp was deploying stop sticks to deflate the teen’s tires, when police say Mayorga intentionally struck the officer.
Kepp needed 10 surgeries in eight months following the crash. He’s since returned to work with the Montgomery County Police Department and to his side job of officiating Division 1 college football.
Kepp left Baltimore’s Shock Trauma Center in December for a long-term rehab program at Walter Reed Naval Medical in Bethesda.
On prosthetic legs, under his county police uniform, Kepp told the judge, “I am lucky to be here to speak with you.”
While the jury cleared Mayorga of the most serious charges, Kepp told Storm, “This was intentional. He knew who I was. I encountered him when he was 17. That’s when he should have learned. He made the conscious decision to make me lose my legs.”
Kepp said while he is glad to be back to work, “After I shower I have to put my legs on every day because of his intentional acts.”
Kepp told the judge that Mayorga will eventually get out of jail, but Kepp “is serving a life sentence” because of his injuries.
Before sentencing, Mayorga stood at the defense table, and turned toward Kepp, who sat in the front row, with two fellow officers who were with him the night he was struck and nearly killed.
”I apologize to Sergeant Kepp,” said Mayorga. “I did a terrible thing.”
WTOP’s Will Vitka contributed to this report.
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