The Howard County Police Department said officers shot a man after he dragged and tried to run over an officer with his sport utility vehicle.
Officers tried to arrest Robert Michael Brown, 31, of Frederick, at 1:30 a.m. Sunday, when they found signs of drugs in his vehicle on Alpha Center Drive in Marriotsville, according to police
Brown jumped back into his vehicle, and an officer tried to pull him out of his sport utility vehicle. The two began to struggle. Brown accelerated the SUV, and dragged the officer beside his car for about 50 yards, according to police.
Another officer arrived at the scene and shot at Brown with a handgun, and the first officer got away.
“The officer could not free himself until the other person fired,” said Jennifer Reidy, a police spokeswoman.
The second police officer returned to his car, while Brown turned his SUV around and attempted to run over the first officer. That is when the first officer fired at Brown, according to police.
“If the officer?s life or someone else?s life is threatened, the officer is entitled to use deadly force,” Reidy said. “That is exactly what the officers were faced with when the suspect dragged the officer and drove the vehicle at the officer.”
Brown then led police on a nearly 20-minute chase. He was arrested at Route 99 and Town & Country Boulevard.
The officer who was dragged is in stable condition at Howard County General Hospital. Brown is in serious but stable condition at University of Maryland Shock Trauma.
The department did not say how many times Brown was shot. Police are investigating the shooting.
Reidy said officers involved in a shooting are usually placed on administrative leave. She did not know whether the officers involved in this incident had been placed on leave.
