Newly released video of the two-county car chase led by Flavio Cesar Lanuza, 27, reveals how Maryland State Police and local police departments finally apprehended the driver. The video was released following Lanuza’s sentencing on Wednesday in County Circuit Court by Judge Sharon Burrell. Lanuza received ten years in prison with a concurrent sentence of 3 years and 60 days.
In February, Lanuza zigzagged between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties for more than half an hour as he drove a stolen Maryland State Highway vehicle weighing more than 14 hundred pounds. On his rampage he struck 11 civilian cars, and two Maryland State Police vehicles, injuring a trooper.
Lanuza pleaded guilty in September to charges of Second-Degree Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, Fleeing and Eluding Marked Police Vehicle by Failing to Stop Resulting in Bodily Injury, and 11 counts of Failing to Return and Remain at the Scene of an Accident.
In a post-sentencing press conference, State’s Attorney John McCarthy stated while he was watching the chase unfold on local television in February, he received a phone call from Prince George’s County State’s Attorney. They then watched the chase together and compared notes on whose jurisdiction would handle which incident. He added, “It was a miracle no one else was harmed.”
When asked if Lanuza, who entered the country illegally from Nicaragua, would be deported before he served any time in prison, McCarthy remarked the defendant would serve the time and then be deported. Too often, he said, deportees return to the U.S. and commit more crimes.
Prince George’s County has yet to prosecute Lanuza for his offenses during the car chase in their jurisdiction.
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