The Anne Arundel County Police officers indicted last week on charges of misconduct in office dodged civilian vehicles at speeds surpassing 100 miles per hour shortly before the car they were pursuing crashed and killed a 22-year-old man who had been riding in the passenger seat, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office said Monday.

When they reported the Dec. 7, 2023, incident to their supervisors last year, the officers, Corporals Eddie Vasquez, 29, and Kieran Christopher Schnell, 27, allegedly made “misrepresentations” and “omissions” to conceal “the occurrence of the pursuit,” the office said.

The misconduct cases against Vasquez and Schnell mark the first time the Attorney General Office’s Independent Investigations Division (IID) will prosecute a police officer, a power granted by the state legislature in October 2023. It is the second time a case investigated by the IID has been prosecuted; the first case, in Baltimore City, was prosecuted by the local state’s attorney’s office.

“Usually when an officer is charged, frankly, it’s due to something about the case being so bizarre, so over the top that it can’t be rationally explained,” said Philip Stinson, a professor in the criminal justice program at Bowling Green State University. “And those situations get a lot closer scrutiny by investigators and prosecutors, and those are the ones that are more likely to result in charges being brought against the officer.”

Since Oct. 1, 2021, the IID has investigated 63 cases, some of which are still active.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said during a press conference Monday that the Anne Arundel indictments are not a reflection of the “honorable and courageous work” of law enforcement, but rather demonstrate his office’s responsibility to “follow the facts wherever they lead.”

According to the indictment, Vasquez followed four vehicles he saw speeding along Fort Smallwoad Road at midnight. The four-year veteran chased a white Infiniti sedan with a driver and passenger inside, the state said, trailing it by 4 seconds but closing in.

The speed limit on Fort Smallwood Road, which is lined with businesses and homes, is 35 mph.

As they went over the Stoney Creek Drawbridge, both the sedan and police crossed a double yellow line to weave around an uninvolved vehicle, state attorneys said. Doing so, Vasquez reached his top speed of 123 mph, according to the indictment.

Shortly after getting off the two-lane bridge, the sedan crashed into a utility pole, approximately 3.5 miles from where police began to follow them, according to the indictment.

The 23-year-old driver, Meziah Johnson, was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, while his passenger, 22-year-old Damione Gardner, was pronounced dead at the scene. The day before the crash, Johnson was convicted in another case of eluding a police officer in Baltimore County, court records show, and barred from driving in the state. It is not immediately clear if Johnson will face more criminal charges.

During the pursuit, Vasquez did not activate his emergency lights, sirens or body-worn camera, according to the indictment. He also did not alert dispatch or his supervisor about his actions.

Schnell, who was hired in 2019, joined the chase after seeing it in his marked vehicle, state attorneys said. His top speed, according to the indictment, was 107 mph.

In a statement Friday, Anne Arundel Police Chief Amal Awad said after reviewing “all of the evidence,” the county department was “not aware of any conduct” that rises to the level of a criminal offense.

Police spokesperson Marc Limansky said the two officers “will be assigned to a non-patrol position that has yet to be determined,” while their cases are adjudicated.

Defense attorney Peter O’Neill, who will represent Schnell, declined to comment Monday, other than to say his client maintains his innocence. Chaz Ball, who will defend Vasquez, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If convicted, it’s unclear what penalties the officers would face. Both officers are scheduled for court hearings Jan. 6.

Earlier this month, IID also launched an investigation into the Nov. 30 fatal shooting involving police in Howard County. In that incident, IID said county police officers exchanged gunfire with 29-year-old Tyree Winslow who was declared dead at the scene. Police said preliminarily, it isn’t clear whether Winslow was killed by gunfire from the police or his own weapon.

Both the Howard County officers, identified as Christopher Weir, who has worked for the division for 14 years, and Joseph Debronzo, who has 15 years of experience, have been placed on standard administrative leave, according to a department spokesperson.

Stinson, the professor, said he has heard frustrations from prosecutors in getting a grand jury to indict officers.

It seems as though the juries in these cases are taking their jobs seriously, demanding high standards for probable cause, Stinson said.

People also don’t want to question the split-second life-or-death decision made by a police officer, thinking of how they wouldn’t want to be in the situations faced by family members who are officers. However, Stinson said, it is hard to research to get a clearer view of what’s happening in deliberation processes since criminologists and lawyers aren’t allowed in jury rooms.

“So with the shooting cases, out of 100 fatal shootings by officers, I would expect no more than one or two of those officers being charged, that’s consistent with the data that we’ve seen,” Stinson said. “It’s just a very unlikely scenario because, again, the investigations often conclude that the officers were legally justified.”

Under Maryland law, the Independent Investigations Division of the attorney general’s office must take control of the investigation of the incident. The division, established by the Maryland General Assembly in 2021 as part of a package of police reform bills, investigates all incidents involving police that result in death or injuries likely to cause the death of an individual.

The IID had jurisdiction over incidents that occurred since Oct. 1, 2021, but the agency did not have the authority to decide whether to prosecute officers or issue criminal charges. Instead, the agency would send a detailed report and analysis to the state’s attorney of the county in which the incident occurred, which had the power to decide on prosecutions.

Last year, the General Assembly passed legislation granting the IID prosecutorial authority for incidents that happened on Oct. 1, 2023, or after. Howard County State’s Attorney Richard Gibson, as well as the state’s attorneys for Baltimore, Wicomico, Cecil and Anne Arundel counties, testified against the bill during a state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing.

New York made a similar policy change thinking that it would lead to more prosecutions, but that hasn’t happened, Stinson said. It is a good policy change to take the prosecutorial authority out of the local officials hands, Stinson said, but “it hasn’t resulted in a whole lot of change.”

Part of the reason states might want to shift prosecutorial authority out of the local agencies is to address the concerns some prosecutors had about prosecuting police officers, Stinson said.

Local prosecutors rely on police to testify and cooperate in court every day, and some worried if they prosecute an officer they may be less cooperative with daily cases, Stinson said.

During the news conference Monday, Attorney General Brown stressed the importance of police integrity.

“The honesty and integrity of police officers are integral to the critical work of all law enforcement,” Attorney General Brown said, “both in keeping Marylanders safe and ensuring the fair and impartial administration of justice.”

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