A 3-year-old girl died and others were injured when a driver trying to speed away from police hit four cars in Capitol Heights Friday evening, authorities said.
Tanisha Robinson and her 3-year-old daughter, Zoey, were in one of the cars the suspect’s SUV hit, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General said. The mother was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a hospital. The little girl was taken to a children's hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
“My heart really goes out to the family,” Prince George’s County Council member Krystal Oriadha said. “As a new mom, I just can’t imagine driving and doing something that’s so ordinary and then one moment your child is alive and the next they're not.”
A District Heights police officer attempted a traffic stop of an Infiniti SUV driver in the 6000 block of Marlboro Pike at about 6:25 p.m. Friday, the attorney general’s office said in a statement the following day. The driver initially stopped but then took off north onto Addison Road South.
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The officer lost sight of the Infiniti and put out a description of the SUV by radio. Moments later, a District Heights officer and a Capitol Heights officer saw the SUV, turned on their emergency equipment and tried to stop the driver.
“A short time later,” authorities said, the driver of the Infiniti crashed into four cars in the 1200 block of Addison Road South. The driver was put in custody and taken to a hospital for injuries described as not life-threatening.
People in the three other cars were treated on the scene for minor injuries.
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The suspect’s name was not immediately released, and the attorney general’s office didn’t say why police initially pulled over the SUV driver.
Oriadha said it’s time to rethink how police initiate pursuits.
“We’ve been having this conversation for a long time about what should trigger an interaction, one, with law enforcement and what should condone law enforcement chasing,” she said. “We know we have laws already in place around chasing when it comes to, like, ATVs because we know it can lead to death. And so, I think this just highlights that conversation needs to continue to happen.”
Investigations by the attorney general’s office and Maryland State Police Crash Team are underway. The officers involved had body cameras and dash cameras. Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to call 410-576-7070 or email at IID@oag.state.md.us.
