County officer asked to resign

Faces 61 charges in wake of high-speed chase investigation

By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer

Published 12/30/08

A 21-year veteran county police officer was slapped with 61 departmental charges last week and asked to resign as punishment for his part in a controversial high-speed chase over the summer that ended in Annapolis' Newtowne 20 neighborhood.

The charges filed against Sgt. Max Weinstein in the wake of the May 21 chase - which went the wrong way down Aris T. Allen Boulevard and injured three police officers - range from failure to perform required duty to neglect of duty, his attorney said.

They are not criminal charges.

It is unclear if the department took such actions against anyone else involved in the chase or the 90-minute stakeout and investigation that led up to it. Police yesterday declined to comment about the Internal Affairs Investigation, which looked at why officers did nothing to disable an abandoned stolen vehicle or unload a sawed-off shotgun they spotted inside.

The department reassigned one supervisor and two officers to administrative duties with pay for their involvement in the stakeout that led up to the chase. Police declined to comment on their status with the department this week, but Charlotte Weinstein, Sgt. Weinstein's wife and attorney, said the police powers of both her husband and a 16-year veteran corporal who first searched the van remain suspended.

Mrs. Weinstein blasted the department last week for singling out her husband - who she said was the sergeant-in-charge for only the first 40 minutes of the investigation - and overlooking others who she believes are at least equally at fault.

"I feel confident in saying none of the other supervisors or officers involved in this incident have received this level of punishment or have been asked to resign even though they did nothing differently from my client during the 20 minutes that (he) had supervision of the incident prior to the beginning of the pursuit," she said in an e-mail, calling for a civilian review board to investigate. She noted that her husband's shift ended at 3 p.m. and that before he left for the day he asked his boss if there was anything else he could do. She said he was told "no."

"The depth and nature of these charges are extraordinary by all stretches of the imagination," said Mrs. Weinstein, questioning the department's ability to police the community if this was how it policed itself.

"The department is making my client a scapegoat while protecting others involved to placate a community that just wants and deserves honest answers. My client's goal is vindicate himself and provide those answers."

Councilmen Josh Cohen and Jamie Benoit, both of whom questioned the department's handling of the police chase in June, declined to comment about the Internal Affairs investigation or Mrs. Weinstein's concerns.

"There are established procedures to file a grievance or to appeal a personnel decision," said Mr. Cohen. "Any such actions should be handled impartially and without political interference. Therefore it would be inappropriate for a council member to comment on or seek to influence the department's handling of an internal personnel matter."

Officer O'Brien Atkinson, president of FOP Lodge 70, could not be reached for comment. In June, he complained the department overreacted when it suspended the police powers of the three officers.

"That is not routine. That is not protocol," Officer Atkinson said of the suspensions. He described the suspensions as a "knee-jerk reaction" to the councilmen's questions, which were included in an article in The Capital.

Questions

Three people - one teenager and two adults - pleaded guilty in county courtrooms earlier this year to their parts in the chase and theft of a minivan owned by the Naval Base Support Unit in Dahlgren, Va.

When the men entered their respective pleas, prosecutors revealed:

Two officers entered the stolen minivan on May 21 at the Harry S Truman park and ride lot outside Annapolis shortly before the chase. Inside, they spotted shotgun shells and a sawed off shotgun

The officers turned off the van's lights, but did not remove the shotgun. They called for back up.

Two detectives came to the scene to stake out the van, but did not notice the three people walk up and get inside. Prosecutors said the detectives did not know anyone was in the van until it started to drive away.

No one disabled the van during the stakeout to make sure it couldn't be driven away.

Mrs. Weinstein alleged additional gaffes that day. Specifically, she said the lieutenant in charge didn't have his radio on when the chase started.

"The lieutenant had his radio turned down and did not know the pursuit was occurring until later in the pursuit," she said, noting how that officer was not reprimanded.

The chase

The 15-year-old driver admitted in July he stole the van, led police on the high-speed chase and assaulted a police officer. He was indefinitely committed to the custody of the state Department of Juvenile Services.

In October, his two passengers, Stephon Delorean Fortune, 18, of Washington, D.C., and James Lorenzo Thomas Jr., 22, of Camp Springs, pleaded guilty to unlawful taking of a vehicle. A judge sentenced each to four years in prison, but suspended all but one year to be served at a county jail.

Prosecutors told the court that police found the stolen van about 2:20 p.m. after getting a call about a suspicious man looking in car windows inside the parking lot at 200 Harry S Truman Parkway.

A police officer drove around the lot and noticed the van was parked and empty, but had its headlights on. He tried the door, found it unlocked and turned off the van's lights. In the process, however, he noticed damage to the steering column and a shotgun and some shells on the floorboard.

He called for back up and two detectives arrived at 3:25 p.m. and took over the scene.

Prosecutors said the detectives let the three people walk up to the van at 3:48 p.m. and get inside. When the vehicle started moving, the detectives ordered the men out of the vehicle and tried to block their escape with their unmarked car to no avail.

The van sped out of the parking lot, heading north on Riva Road, east on Forest Drive, and south on Solomons Island Road, police said. The van then went the wrong way down an exit ramp to get onto Aris T. Allen Boulevard - driving east in the westbound lanes.

The chase ended on Newtowne Drive after the van headed down the dead-end road and turned around.

A police officer in a marked patrol car tried to block the road, causing the 15-year-old driver to swerve and hit the detective's unmarked car head on. Police said the pursuit ended at 3:57 p.m. - about 90 minutes after the officer found the van.

The young driver of the van tried to run from the wreck, but a county police officer used a Taser to stop him.

The two passengers in the van were pulled from the back of the wreckage and arrested without incident.

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