Monday morning was a commuter’s nightmare for those traveling south on I-95 from Cecil County and Havre de Grace, but what happened in the aftermath of the fatal crash that closed the highway is unforgivable.
The disturbing practice the police have of protecting their own by treating them differently from everyone else was sickeningly on full display.
Here’s what happened: At about 6 a.m., a Ford Explorer traveling north on I-95 just north of the Maryland House was smashed in the back by a Nissan pickup barreling up the highway. The Nissan, which was in the second lane from the median, drove the Explorer into the guardrail, over it, and onto the shoulder of the highway’s southbound fast lane.
After stopping briefly, the driver of the Nissan took off, leaving a license plate behind, police said. It didn’t take long for them to identify him. They then had to search a little bit before finally finding him at a relative’s house in Cecil County.
The suspect is an Anne Arundel County police officer, who police believe was under the influence of alcohol when he rammed his truck into the back of the Explorer, ultimately killing 28-year-old Antonio M. Martinez, of Baltimore.
But neither Maryland State Police, which investigated the accident, nor Anne Arundel County Police, the suspect's employer, would make public the identity of the police officer suspected of being a drunk driver who killed Mr. Martinez and left the scene.
The identity of Dane Patrick Hall, 28, of the 1000 block of Frenchtown Road in Perryville, the officer held in connection with the fatal crash who was charged Monday with a drinking and driving offense, was confirmed by Maryland State Police at the JFK Barrack in Perryville Tuesday.
Thanks to some good old-fashioned reporting, and a little luck, Aegis News Editor Erika Butler uncovered what the police didn't want getting out. Bulter found the suspect’s name in barrak logs, got it confirmed by state police in Perryville and told the public, all of us, what the Anne Arundel County Police and the Maryland State Police officialdom should have done willingly, albeit sadly.
“The public should know that we hold our officers to the highest ethical standards, and any allegation of misconduct will be investigated to the fullest extent,” Col. James Teare Sr., of the Anne Arundel County Police, said in a written statement after the crash. “We hold every member responsible to maintain an exemplary standard of personal integrity.”
Nonsense.
There’s the unwritten code of “professional courtesy” police try to extend as much as possible to fellow officers in distress, and it’s a double standard that should be done away with.
For example, compare the police reactions in the wake of Monday’s I-95 fatal crash with how Maryland Transportation Authority Police handled the woman suspected of running over one of their officers in Baltimore and killing him last New Year’s Eve. Once they zeroed in on the Elkton woman they believed had killed the officer, they didn’t hesitate releasing her name and address, even though she had not been charged in connection with the hit and run death.
We’ve had our own cases in Harford County, including one particularly galling case a few years ago of an off-duty Baltimore City Police officer running down an Edgewood man as he was walking his dog across Willoughby Beach Road in a clearly marked crosswalk. For the longest time, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office refused to release her name, its spokesman at the time citing "professional courtesy." Eventually, we published it, but far later than we should have.
In our free society, we have the same right to know the name of a police officer suspected of wrongdoing as we do anyone else accused of a crime. One of the lame excuses for not naming the Anne Arundel County Police officer in Monday’s I-95 crash was because he had not been charged in connection with the wreck. As it turns out, he wasn’t charged with Mr. Martinez’s death in the crash or with leaving the scene, but with a drinking and driving offense.
Shucks, the police even were quick to release the name of a Baltimore County judge (who inexplicably got off because he didn’t know his rights) they had arrested not too long ago on Mountain Road and charged with a drinking and driving offense.
Police have to quit acting as if the law doesn’t apply to them and their cohorts. If they’re suspected of wrongdoing, tell us who they are. They’re no better than anyone else suspected of breaking the law.
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