OWNER OF VEHICLE THAT STRUCK, KILLED MARYLAND OFFICER TAKEN INTO CUSTODY
The owner of a vehicle that struck and killed a Maryland Transportation Authority police officer on New Year's Eve was taken into custody Tuesday on an unrelated drunken driving charge, police said. Officer Courtney G. Brooks, 40, was struck late Monday night as he worked to prevent commercial trucks from entering downtown Baltimore from Interstate 95 during the city's New Year's Eve celebration, Transportation Authority Police Chief Marcus L. Brown said. Brooks died a short time later at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Witnesses told police that the driver of a Ford Explorer tried to exit northbound I-95 at the I-395 ramp before veering back onto the highway, across the area where Brooks was standing, which was marked with more than 50 flares.
The driver didn't stop after striking Brooks. Police recovered the Explorer- which had severe front end damage- early Tuesday morning at a truck stop off I-95 in North East, about 50 miles from the crash scene.
Shortly thereafter, the owner, Kerri J. King, 35, was arrested at her Elkton home, said Sgt. Pamela Thorne, a Transportation Authority police spokesman.
Police were not sure whether King was behind the wheel, but she was arrested on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court in a drunken driving case.
Brown told reporters at a news conference that King was "a person of interest" in the crash and was being questioned. He said she asked for an attorney after her arrest. "She's the owner of the vehicle, and we're going to continue to investigate that to determine if she was the driver," Brown said.
When she was cited for drunken driving in September, King was pulled over by a Transportation Authority police officer at the same spot on I-95 where the accident occurred Monday night, according to court records.
Brooks, of Hampstead, had been with the Transportation Authority police for 13 years. He leaves behind a fiancee and three children, police said. "This tragic incident that took the life of Officer Courtney Brooks underscores the importance of each and every person to drive safely," Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said in a statement. The last line-of-duty death for Transportation Authority police occurred in 2006, when Cpl. Robert Krauss, 39, died during surgery. He had been struck by a drunken driver the previous year while escorting a funeral procession on his motorcycle.
In 2004, Officer Duke G. Aaron III, 39, died after a driver slammed into his cruiser on U.S. 50 near the Bay Bridge. The following year, Officer Grant F. Turner collapsed and died at the end of a 5K run in Aaron's honor. Three other active-duty officers have died in the history of the force, which was established in 1960 as the Maryland Port Authority Special Police Force.
Transportation Authority police have jurisdiction over Authority-controlled highways, bridges and tunnels, the Port of Baltimore and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
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