An off-duty Anne Arundel police officer was arrested in a fatal hit-and-run accident that closed down Interstate 95 near Aberdeen on Monday, officials said.
Police refused to release the name of the officer because the officer has yet to be formally charged.
The officer was driving a gray Nissan truck around 6 a.m. on northbound I-95 when he rear-ended a Ford Explorer with Texas license plates, according to state police at the JFK Barracks.
The Explorer spun out, flipped over the guardrail and landed on the inside shoulder of southbound I-95. The suspect fled the scene, police said.
The Explorer?s driver, Antonio Martinez, 28, of Fieldcrest Road in Baltimore, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Truck passengers Jaime Martinez Salas, 35, and Jose Enrique Ramos Olvera, 19, both of Sprigg Court in Baltimore City, were transported to Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace for non-life-threatening injuries, said state police spokeswoman Elena Wendell.
“The public should know that we hold our officers to the highest ethical standards, and any allegation of misconduct will be investigated to the fullest extent,” said Anne Arundel Police Chief James Teare in a statement.
State police used a license plate found in the debris near the scene to track the Nissan truck to a Cecil County house occupied by a relative of the suspect. He was arrested around 9:15 a.m.
The suspect, a patrol officer for three and a half years, has been stripped of all law enforcement powers.
He will be placed on a paid administrative function because he has not been charged with a felony, said Sgt. Sara Schriver, Anne Arundel police spokeswoman.
Southbound I-95 was closed entirely for an hour near the Maryland House rest stop, and investigators closed two lanes of northbound I-95 while making measurements and searching for debris, Wendell said.
