The streets of Baltimore County, Maryland, were filled with chaos and tragedy when a police chase of an armed carjacking suspect turned fatal for the suspect and two others.
The police suspected 20-year-old Dion Lamar Taylor of being involved in a carjacking incident and had been chasing him through Liberty and Essex roads in Baltimore county. However, Taylor met his untimely death when police used an on-duty cruiser as a deadly weapon and ran him over less than a block from his home. Taylor’s mother, Teisha Cook, is now speaking out about the tragedy and questioning the police’s response and use of deadly force on her son.
Cook spoke about the heartbreaking moment she found out that her son had been killed by a Baltimore County police car. She searched for her son, not knowing that he was under the car, and couldn’t find him despite running around the neighborhood looking for him.
“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,” Cook said in an emotional interview with 11 News.
The police had reason to believe that Taylor and two other suspects had carjacked a pizza delivery person on Merle Drive in Woodlawn around 4 pm. When the police located the stolen vehicle, a high-speed chase ensued, which ended when the police crashed the suspects’ car at Northern Parkway and Highgate Drive. A handgun was thrown out of the window of the targeted car during the chase and later recovered by the Baltimore County police.
At the intersection of Northern Parkway and Liberty Road, two suspects jumped out of the moving vehicle, and the police used their police cruiser as a deadly weapon, smashing it into the vehicle to disable it while another car followed the suspects who were fleeing on foot. Unfortunately, Taylor was struck down by the police cruiser that was following the suspects as he was running toward home down Highgate Drive.
Baltimore County police Cpl. Shawn Vinson commented, “From what we can tell at this point, there’s nothing that shows that this officer intentionally struck the suspect.” The police are not releasing further information at this time because the case is still under investigation. The public is asking for more information and wants to know why the police had to use a squad car to run down the suspect and kill him.
Taylor’s mother is seeking answers from the police and insists that her son was not a criminal but a homebody. One of the suspects in the carjacking incident, Taron Kelly, a 16-year-old, was arrested and charged with armed carjacking, armed robbery, motor vehicle theft, possession of a handgun, and being a minor in possession of a handgun.
Baltimore County prosecutors are trying to charge Kelly as an adult due to the severity of the charges. He is currently being held in jail without bond, and the third suspect has yet to be caught by the police.
The police officer responsible for mowing down Taylor has been placed on administrative leave. Baltimore City police are investigating the incident to see if the officer had acted within their rights or overstepped by using deadly force against the young man who was fleeing the vehicle. The tragedy has raised questions about police procedures, and many are demanding answers.
WATCH the video below:
Source: AWM
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