While A Car Made Contact With A Crossing Guard, There Was No Hit And Run: Prosecutor

GLEN BURNIE, MD — A video has shed light on the Sept. 9 encounter where Anne Arundel County Police initially said a crossing guard was hit by a car, and prosecutors will not pursue charges.

Authorities had initially charged a 32-year-old Glen Burnie man after his car made contact with a crossing guard who was helping students. The incident occurred about 8:45 a.m. at Shetlands Lane and Tam O Shanter Glen.

According to a police report, the crossing guard was wearing an official uniform including a fluorescent yellow vest with a blinking red light. She had stopped traffic on Tam O Shanter Glen to allow three elementary students to cross the street. Joseph Hernandez of the 1000 block of Genine Drive brushed the crossing guard with his Tesla, struck her leg and caused a minor injury, the police department said.

An Anne Arundel County police officer was nearby and was able to note the license plate number of the vehicle. Hernandez was charged with an arrest warrant, which was later served.

After reviewing the video and body-worn camera footage from the scene, there is evidence the vehicle touched the crossing guard, but didn't mean to strike her, State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said in a news release.

"Not only did the crossing guard react to it, but the officer at the scene observed it and heard the guard say that the driver had made contact with her. However, the video of the intersection helped us determine that the contact appears to be the result of the driver straightening his wheel and starting to reverse to back out of the crosswalk rather than the result of either a reckless or intentional act on his part. The driver had originally pulled into the crosswalk to move out of the way of a vehicle turning down the street where he was stopped waiting for traffic to clear. There is no indication that he failed to obey a traffic control device," Leitess said.

Shortly after the incident, a nearby police officer saw the driver and crossing guard arguing about what had happened, and saw the driver "was angry and argumentative, which gave further indication that there had been unlawful physical contact," authorities said.

Security camera footage shared by neighbor Howard Wang shows Hernandez in his car stopped. The crossing guard motions him forward to let a car pass by, then he stops. The crossing guard can be seen backing up near Hernandez' bumper.

“When I first looked through it, I didn’t see it. Like I missed it. I didn’t know it was an incident,” Wang told WJZ. "It doesn’t even look like she got hurt at all, 'cause she was normal afterward. She continued to do her job afterwards. I don’t think she got hit. Because if you look at the video, she was up against the bumper. Like before the car even moved. He had his wheel turned. So he straightened the wheel and then backed up at the same time, that’s probably what she felt. That’s it.”

Charging documents show that Hernandez was charged with seven violations, including reckless driving, negligent driving and failure to render aid to an injured person.

“I was surprised they filed a police report and he got arrested,” Wang told WJZ.

Hernandez’s attorney said the charges are entirely false.

"Because there is ultimately no evidence that the driver was told to pull over or that he was otherwise put on notice that the crossing guard had suffered any bodily injury, there is insufficient evidence to prosecute any 'hit and run' charge," Leitess said in a statement. "Because the contact did not rise to the level of a criminal offense as an intentional or reckless act and there was no actual notice to the driver of any injuries at the time that legally required him to remain at the scene, the Office of the State’s Attorney has decided to enter all the charges nolle prosequi."

Nolle prosequi means "a formal notice of abandonment by a plaintiff or prosecutor of all or part of a suit or action."