The Silver Spring Penguin

A high-speed car chase on Georgia Avenue started in the District and ended for DC police at the county line. Just over the border in south Silver Spring, that moving violation became a deadly three-car wreck. Friends of two men killed in the crash now ask why DC police started the chase, and why they didn’t finish it.

Late on Dec. 4, a silver Chevy Impala was barreling north on Georgia Avenue in Northwest DC. According to the DC police, a squad car attending to an unrelated traffic stop spotted the Impala and went after it.

No sooner than the squad car hit its lights and siren did the Impala pick up speed. But once the Impala crossed the Montgomery County line at Eastern Avenue, the DC police called it quits.

The District’s policy draws the line on high-speed pursuits at the border unless a serious crime has been committed, the Washington Post explained. With the DC squad car stopped at the border, the Impala continued to race up Georgia Avenue.

Only one-half mile from the county line, near the intersection of Georgia and Sligo avenues, the Impala smashed into a Ford Crown Victoria and then a Honda Accord. Two men in the Honda–Shawn Ryan Terrill, 24, and Ahmad Glenn, 23–died at the scene.

Friends of the two men now ask whether the DC police created conditions leading to the crash in Silver Spring.

“The job of the police is to protect everyone, but they just watched the car speed away,” Glenn’s friend Sarah Iliff told The Examiner. “They should have at least radioed for help.”

It’s unclear whether DC cops are required to notify neighboring jurisdictions in such cases. They did not call the Montgomery County police about the Impala zooming into Silver Spring, Lt. Eric Burnett, of the MoCo police, told The Examiner.

The MoCo PD learned of the Impala through 911 calls reporting the crash, Burnett said.

Because the crash occurred in Silver Spring, MoCo police are responsible for investigating its cause. One person in the Impala was injured and interviewed in the hospital. At least two more people in the Impala fled the scene, perhaps with serious injuries.

No one’s been arrested so far, Burnett said.

Image courtesy of NBC 4 News.

“Md. crash came after high-speed DC chase”
(Washington Post)
“Friends question, police defend units letting speeding car cross border to Md.”
(The Examiner)