Police/Crime/Fire  

State Trooper Injured on I-270 in 2021 Returns to Work

A Maryland State Trooper struck by a car while on duty was welcomed back to work by his fellow officers on Monday.

On Dec. 1, 2021, Trooper Brian DeHaven conducted a traffic stop involving a 2019 Kia at 6:10 a.m. DeHaven was outside his patrol vehicle on the left shoulder of I-270 south of Exit 6 in Rockville when he was struck by a Toyota Venza that was driven by Jose Ascencio, 44.

The police Ford Explorer was on the left shoulder of the highway and parked behind the Kia. Its emergency lights were flashing, according to State Police. DeHaven was standing between the jersey wall and the driver’s side of the Kia when the Toyota driven by Ascencio swerved and struck the trooper and both the police car and the Kia.

According to reports at the time, DeHaven was pinned between the car and jersey wall. He then was dragged down the concrete wall and trapped between the car and the jersey wall. His radio was damaged, and he had no way to call for help.

DeHaven was critically injured in the collision. He went through numerous hospitalizations and rehabilitation stays during his recovery. Acsencio was not injured.

Ascencio pled guilty to numerous traffic violations, including failure to control a vehicle’s speed to avoid a collision, reckless driving in willful disregard for safety of persons and property, failure to obey properly placed traffic control device instructions, failure to drive vehicle on right half of roadway when required, following a vehicle closer than reasonable and prudent and failure to make a lane change, according to court records.

He paid a fine.

The Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce honored DeHaven with a Medal of Valor in 2022 in connection with this incident.

 

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