Off-Duty Officer In Critical Condition Following Crash By Road Rage Driver: Prosecutor

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — An off-duty Morningside police officer remains in critical condition after a vehicle involved in a road rage incident crashed into his personal vehicle stopped in a turning lane.

Sunday around 1:40 p.m., Prince George’s County Public Safety Communications (911) received a call reporting a black BMW car following the 911 caller and “firing shots” at the vehicle in what was believed to be a road rage incident.

Several minutes later, officers with the Morningside Police Department spotted a BMW matching the description traveling along Suitland Road. The BMW was approaching the intersection of Suitland Road and Allentown Road when the driver lost control and hit a car in a northbound turning lane on Allentown Road, according to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

The driver of the BMW, a man, ran from the car. He was apprehended by Morningside Police and taken to an area hospital with minor injuries. A loaded handgun was recovered from the BMW at the scene.

According to WJLA, it was an off duty Morningside police officer along with two juveniles who were inside the car that had been hit by the BMW. The officer was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries. The two juvenile passengers in the second car suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital where they were treated and released, according to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

The Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General has identified the officer as Morningside Police Officer Stephen Huddleston, who has been with the department for one year.

The Morningside police cruiser was not equipped with a dashboard camera but Morningside Police officers are issued body-worn cameras, the state's attorney general's office noted. Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact the IID at (410) 576-7070 or by email at IID@oag.state.md.us.