A 69-year-old woman was less than a mile from home when a man speeding away from a traffic stop in Bowie hit and killed her, authorities say. The violent crash was caught on video.
Deborah Saffran was the victim, Prince George’s County police said.
A resident was working in his backyard just before 2:45 p.m. Wednesday when he suddenly heard screeching tires and a crash, he told News4.
The camera mounted on the side of his home recorded the collision on 9th Street in Bowie. A truck can be seen suddenly crossing the double-yellow line and hitting a car head-on.
Within seconds, police cars’ sirens can be heard.
“Holy s—!” someone can be heard shouting on a dispatch communication. “[…] He just hit a car head-on. Get up here now!”
Prince George’s County police say when they tried to pull over a driver, he took off. Police say a supervisor ordered officers on the scene not to pursue the driver. Moments later, he crashed.
“We heard a huge boom, and of course we knew exactly what it was because it’s happened more than once here,” resident Laura Martin said. “We jumped up, ran to the front porch. I seen a cop get out of an unmarked car and run to the truck that obviously hit the pole, opened the door up, drug the guy out, put him on the ground and put handcuffs on him.”
Martin shared a photo of the man who she said police pulled out of the truck. News4 blurred the man’s face because police did not immediately file charges against him. He was still hospitalized as of Thursday evening.
“It appeared that his leg was broke. They put a neck brace on him,” Martin said.
What police confirmed is that the man was under investigation when officers attempted the traffic stop. Police declined to provide details.
In addition to killing a woman, the crash took down a power pole and left the neighborhood in the dark for some time.
“That could have been me, coming home with my grandson from school yesterday,” Martin said. “He didn’t go to school yesterday, which was probably a good thing.”
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General, which generally investigates all fatal incidents involving police in the state, declined to take the case after consulting with county police.
