SUSPECT IN TWO ARMED ROBBERIES FLEES POLICE AND ENDS IN FATAL CRASH

(Clear Spring, MD) – A man, wanted in connection with two armed robberies in Washington County, flees police and ends up in fatal crash.

The deceased is not being identified at this time pending notification of next of kin. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle involved in both armed robberies.

The preliminary investigation indicates that at about 3:00 a.m. this morning, state police received a broadcast from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office about an armed robbery that occurred at a hotel located in the 100 block of Lime Stone Road in Hancock, Maryland. An hour later, at about 4:00 a.m., state police received another report of a second armed robbery at a hotel located in the 12000 block of Houck Ave in Clear Spring, Maryland. The details regarding the suspect’s identity, his vehicle and the gun used, was the same in both robberies.

Moments before the second robbery was reported, a state trooper from the Hager
stown Barrack was working DUI patrol, approximately one-tenth of a mile away from the second hotel. The trooper was following a suspected drunk driver on Route 40 east of Clear Spring when the broadcast providing a description of the vehicle involved in the robberies was reported. The trooper noted the vehicle description from the broadcast matched the vehicle he was following. The trooper immediately turned on his emergency lights and siren attempting to pullover the driver.

The driver fled police for approximately 2.5 miles when his car left the roadway at St. Paul’s Road on Route 40, striking several fixed objects and an unattended parked car. Police and emergency personnel immediately responded to render aid. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Maryland State Police Crash Team, Crime Scene technicians and troopers from the Hagerstown Barrack are on the scene conducting the investigation. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the armed robberies. The Clear Spring Fire Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office are assisting on the scene as the investigation continues.