Anne Arundel County officers won't be charged for misconduct during deadly 2023 pursuit
Criminal charges were dismissed against two Anne Arundel County police officers who were accused of misconduct during a deadly 2023 pursuit in Pasadena, according to our media partner The Baltimore Banner.
The Banner reports that the judge's decision centers on statements that the judge determined the officers, Kieran Schnell and Eddie Vazquez, were forced to give to internal affairs investigators with the Anne Arundel County Police Department.
Those comments, known in the law as compelled statements or testimony, are off-limits for prosecutors in criminal cases because they violate the accused's Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent and protect against self-incrimination," according to the Banner.
The judge said she had no choice but to dismiss the charges, the Banner reports. The attorney general's office can appeal the judge's ruling.
"We are reviewing the court's decision to determine next steps," Kelsey Hartman, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office, said in a statement to the Banner.
Hartman added that the prosecutors believe their "case against the officers does not rely on any compelled statements."
Unauthorized high-speed chase
In December, Anne Arundel County police Corporal Schnell and Corporal Vasquez were indicted for their involvement in an unauthorized high-speed chase in 2023, according to the Maryland Attorney General's Office.
Investigators stated that in the early morning hours of December 7, the two officers began pursuing a white Infinity on the Stoney Creek drawbridge in Pasadena with its headlights turned off. Police said two patrol cars followed behind without their emergency lights on.
The car crashed into a utility pole at the intersection of Fort Smallwood and Bar Harbor Roads. The passenger, Damione Gardner, died at the scene, and the driver was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
"On December 7, 2023, two officers with the Anne Arundel County PD were involved in an unauthorized, high-speed pursuit over several miles that ended in the death of a passenger in the car being chased," Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said.
Attorney General Brown said the two officers misled their superiors about their participation in the pursuit and did not receive authorization to begin the pursuit. He also said the officers chased the car at speeds over 100 mph, failed to turn on their lights or sirens, and did not "tell the truth" that they were still pursuing the vehicle at the time of the crash.
They also added that the pursuit lasted several miles.
"These officers failed to tell the truth that they chased the car for more than three miles at speeds in excess of 100 mph, including over a two-lane drawbridge, with the speed limit on that bridge posted at 35 mph," Brown said.
Brown said that if Schnell and Vasquez were forthcoming about the details of the crash, they would have been suspended.
"Immediately following the crash, both officers made factual misrepresentations and material omissions about the circumstances of the crash to responding officers," said Allison Green, the Chief of the Attorney General's Independent Division. "They concealed the occurrence of a pursuit."
