Officer remains in critical condition

A Howard County police officer remained in critical condition Sunday after being struck by a vehicle along Route 32 in Savage.

Pfc. Scott Wheeler, 31, who has worked on the force for nearly seven years, was hit at 2 p.m. Saturday near Route 1.

Wheeler, working with two other officers, was standing in the road, waving speeders off to the side, when he was struck, according to police.

Wheeler was flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Police have not decided whether to press charges against the driver, a 24-year-old Columbia woman in a Nissan Sentra. She pulled over and was interviewed by officers.

Howard County police spokesman Jamie Myers said Sunday that officers “were not even looking” at pressing charges now and were focused on Wheeler?s condition.

Myers said police have begun reconstructing the accident and will produce a final report.

“That report will usually take a month or two before everything is finalized,” he said.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman was out of state Saturday, but cut his visit short to get to the hospital mid-afternoon, his spokesman Kevin Enright said.

“He has been in constant contact with Chief [William] McMahon throughout this ordeal,” Enright said. “His thoughts and prayers are with Scott and the Wheeler family — and the Howard County police department family.”

In April 2005, Wheeler was selected as Howard County Police?s Officer of the Month.

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