Update: Police Officer Hit By Car On I-270 In Clarksburg Identified

(Updated at 4:55 p.m.) CLARKSBURG, MD — Authorities have released the name of a Montgomery County Police officer who was struck by a car while on foot searching for two suspects who abandoned a stolen car after a chase on Interstate 270 overnight. The accident happened just after midnight in Clarksburg.

Officer Robert Sagona was northbound on I-270 near Montgomery Village Avenue (Maryland Route 124 – Exit 11) in his cruiser when he reportedly saw a black, Chevrolet Impala driving erratically in front of him at a high rate of speed. When he checked the registration, the tag was not registered to the Impala. When Sagona tried to stop the car, the driver continued north on Interstate 270 and a chase began.

Officers put Stop Sticks on the road and the suspect vehicle’s tires were punctured so the vehicle couldn't be driven. Two people fled the vehicle, which stopped along Interstate 270 just south of the exit for Clarksburg Road (Maryland Route 121).

Local and state police officers, along with a Maryland State Police helicopter, searched for the suspects, but they weren't located. Police say Sagona was walking back to his vehicle, which was parked on the northbound portion of I-270, when the driver of a southbound 2011 Subaru Forrester changed lanes to avoid a parked state police cruiser and struck Sagona. The driver of the Forrester is Hunter Lee White, 19, of Germantown.

Sagona was airlifted to a hospital by the state police helicopter with serious, non-life-threatening injuries. He remains hospitalized in stable condition.

Police are still looking for the two car-theft suspects; charges are pending against White, reports said.