BALTIMORE —
Police said a carjacking suspect was fatally struck by a police car as he and two others ran from the car late Sunday afternoon.
The suspect who died was identified as Dion Lamar Taylor, 20, of Baltimore. He lived one block from the scene of the crash.
Teisha Cook told 11 News about the moment she found out her son, Taylor, had been hit and killed by a Baltimore County police car a block away from her home.
“The whole time I’m trying to find my son not knowing that he was underneath the car, and I’m running around looking for him, and I couldn’t find them, and I’m calling in and I’m texting him and there was no response,” Cook said. “My son was running through the street up here, police came this way, and one came that way crashed into them and then ran him over.”
Police said Taylor and two other suspects carjacked a pizza delivery person just before 4 p.m. Sunday in the 3400 block of Merle Drive in Woodlawn. The car was discovered by police a short time later. A chase started at Essex and Liberty roads in Baltimore County and ended at Northern Parkway and Highgate Drive in Baltimore City.
During the chase, a handgun was thrown out the window, police said. The weapon was recovered, police said. When they reached the intersection of Northern Parkway and Liberty Road, the suspects bailed out while the car was moving. A Baltimore County police cruiser hit the car and another gave chase as the suspects ran. Taylor was killed when he was hit as he turned down Highgate Drive.
“From what we can tell at this point, there’s nothing that shows that this officer intentionally struck the suspect,” Baltimore County police Cpl. Shawn Vinson said.
County police said officers followed protocol and that there is more information that they can’t release because of the continuing investigation.
Cook just wants answers.
“He was not a criminal. My son was a homebody,” she said.
Police said officers arrested one of the other suspects, Taron Kelly, 16, of Baltimore, who is charged as an adult with armed robbery, armed carjacking, motor vehicle theft, possession of a handgun and being a minor in possession of a handgun. Kelly is being held without bond and a third suspect is at large.
Baltimore City police are handling the crash investigation.
The officer has been placed on routine administrative leave.
