BALTIMORE — Two Charles County sheriff’s deputies who chased a car that fled a Waldorf traffic stop in August will not face criminal charges in the wrong-way crash that killed a passenger minutes later, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced Nov. 10.
The decision closes the state’s criminal review of the Aug. 25 pursuit, which began on Md. 5 in Charles County and ended in a head-on collision on U.S. 301 in Brandywine, just across the Prince George’s County line. Alexis Cummings, 33, of Temple Hills, who was riding in the back seat of the fleeing car, died at a hospital.
Brown’s office said its Independent Investigations Division found that the deputies, Cpl. Justin Bottorf and Pfc. Eddie Vanover, “did not commit a crime under Maryland law.” The finding addresses criminal liability only. The announcement did not say whether the pursuit complied with Charles County Sheriff’s Office policy, and it did not address any civil claims.
What investigators say happened
According to the attorney general’s account, several Charles County officers stopped a Toyota sedan at about 10:21 a.m. at the request of the Arlington County Police Department in Virginia. Arlington police believed a person wanted on more than 20 warrants in multiple jurisdictions was inside.
Bottorf and Vanover found the car and turned on their lights and sirens on eastbound Md. 5, which is Leonardtown Road, near Lakewood Place in the St. Charles area of Waldorf. The driver pulled to the shoulder. Three people were inside: the driver, a front-seat passenger the state identifies only as Jane Doe, and Cummings.
The driver got out when told to. Investigators said the front-seat passenger then climbed over the center console into the driver’s seat. Vanover, who had left his patrol car to make the stop, tried to pull her out and could not. She drove off at high speed with Cummings still in the back.
Bottorf, who had stayed in his vehicle, went after the Toyota immediately with lights and sirens on, and Vanover followed. The deputies lost sight of the car on northbound U.S. 301, then saw it again traveling north in the southbound lanes, into oncoming traffic. It kept going that way until it hit an uninvolved motorist head-on.
The pursuit covered about 5.1 miles in roughly four minutes, the state said, which works out to an average of more than 70 mph. Officers gave aid until medics arrived. The woman who was driving and the motorist she struck were treated for their injuries and released. No officers were hurt.
Television station WJLA reported in September, citing the sheriff’s office, that a supervisor ended the pursuit after deputies saw the Toyota going the wrong way on the highway. The attorney general’s summary does not describe that order.
Ten weeks from crash to decision
The state division opened its case the day of the crash and finished Nov. 4, a span of 71 days. Along the way it set a timeline for releasing names and video, then identified the two deputies and Cummings on Aug. 31. Body-camera and dash-camera recordings followed in late September, and the Chronicle reported on what that footage showed.
Maryland lawmakers created the Independent Investigations Division in 2021 to examine deaths involving police officers, taking that work out of the hands of the agencies involved. Since Oct. 1, 2023, the attorney general has also held the authority to decide whether to prosecute officers in those cases, a decision that previously rested with the local state’s attorney. The Brandywine ruling was made under that newer authority.
The office published its reasoning in a declination report, case number 26-IID-017, which it described as containing the division’s detailed findings and its analysis of the legal questions.
Questions the decision leaves open
The announcement covers only the two deputies. It did not say whether the woman who drove away from the stop has been charged in connection with the crash or with Cummings’ death, and the state’s public summary continues to refer to her by a pseudonym.
It also did not describe the outcome of any internal review by the sheriff’s office. A decision not to prosecute means state investigators concluded the evidence would not support a criminal case against the officers. It is separate from an agency’s own judgment about whether a pursuit followed its rules for when deputies may chase a fleeing vehicle and when they must stop.
The crash drew attention to those rules in part because of the route. The chase ran north along one of the busiest commuter corridors between Charles and Prince George’s counties on a weekday morning, and it ended with a driver who had no connection to the stop being sent to a hospital.
