Editor’s note: This article references body-worn camera and dash camera footage released by investigators that contains graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised.
The Charles County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) has released video footage tied to an Aug. 25 traffic stop that ended in a fatal crash on Crain Highway near McKendree Road in Brandywine, adding new detail to a case the Southern Maryland Chronicle has followed since the day it happened.
Because the incident involved a police pursuit resulting in death, investigative authority rests with the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division (IID) under state law. The IID released body-worn and in-car camera footage from the involved officers this week; CCSO is separately releasing the same footage with added context, including the original dispatch and radio traffic and on-screen captions, which the department says give “a fuller picture of the unfolding events.”
How the traffic stop unfolded
According to CCSO, officers initiated a traffic stop on a silver Toyota at approximately 10:20 a.m. on Aug. 25 in the area of Leonardtown Road and Lakewood Drive in Waldorf. The stop was requested by the Arlington County (Virginia) Police Department after learning one of the vehicle’s occupants had more than 20 active warrants across several jurisdictions — including Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard, Anne Arundel and Frederick counties — several of them felonies.
Officers found three people in the car: two in front, one in back. The front-seat passenger, an adult woman, was confirmed to be the subject of the warrants. CCSO said that as officers tried to make contact, she locked the passenger door, told the original driver to get out, and climbed over the center console into the driver’s seat. She then pushed an officer out of the car doorway — dislodging his body camera in the process — and fled with the back-seat passenger still inside the vehicle.
The pursuit and crash
Officers pursued the fleeing car but lost sight of it near Crain Highway and Substation Road amid heavy traffic. Radio traffic released with the footage shows the lead officer saying he would call off the pursuit if no units were positioned ahead of him; after officers spotted the vehicle traveling the wrong way on Crain Highway, a supervisor terminated the chase. Seconds later, officers found the vehicle had crashed into two vans in the southbound lanes near McKendree Road and immediately began rendering aid to the van occupants.
The footage shows the fleeing vehicle crossed the median from the northbound into the southbound lanes and was, in CCSO’s account, actually behind the pursuing officers when it drove directly into oncoming traffic and struck the vans.
The suspect sustained serious injuries and was taken to a hospital. The back-seat passenger, previously identified by the IID as Alexis Cummings, 33, of Temple Hills, was flown to a trauma center, where she later died. Van occupants were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Two Charles County deputies were previously identified in connection with the incident: PFC Eddie Vanover, a five-year CCSO veteran, and Cpl. Justin Bottorf, a 13-year veteran, both of the Patrol Division.
CCSO’s video release, which the department says contains graphic content, can be viewed on YouTube.
