The police in Baltimore County, Maryland, used their cruises to fatally crash into an armed carjacking suspect and two others. The police had made chase of 20-year-old Dion Lamar Taylor because they suspected he was involved in a carjacking episode. However, Taylor was mowed down by police with an on-duty cruiser less than one block from his home. Now, the suspected carjacker’s mother is turning to the media to criticize the police response and their use of deadly force on her son.
In an emotional interview with 11 News, Taylor’s mother, Teisha Cook, explained what went through her head when she first heard that her beloved son had been killed by a Baltimore County police car less than a block from her home.
“The whole time, I’m trying to find my son, not knowing that he was underneath the car, and I’m running around looking for him, and I couldn’t find them, and I’m calling in, and I’m texting him, and there was no response. My son was running through the street up here, police came this way, and one came that way crashed into them and then ran him over.”
Police believe that Taylor and two other suspects carjacked a pizza delivery person around 4 pm in the 3400 block of Merle Drive in Woodlawn. When police found the car shortly afterward, a chase ensued through Liberty and Essex roads in Baltimore county. The police chase ended when cops finally crashed the suspects’ car at Northern Parkway and Highgate Drive.
According to the Baltimore County cops, a handgun was tossed out of the window of the targeted car and was later recovered. At the intersection of Northern Parkway and Liberty Road, two suspects jumped out of the moving vehicle. That’s when the Baltimore County police used their police cruiser as a deadly weapon, smashing their speeding vehicle into the vehicle to disable it while another car followed the suspects who were fleeing on foot. The police cruiser that was following the suspects struck down Taylor as he was running toward home down Highgate Drive.
Baltimore County police Cpl. Shawn Vinson stated: “From what we can tell at this point, there’s nothing that shows that this officer intentionally struck the suspect.”
Police are refusing to release further information at this time because the case is an ongoing investigation. However, members of the public want to know more and to be told why the police had to use a squad car to run down the suspect and kill him.
Taylor’s mother wants more information from the police.
“He was not a criminal. My son was a homebody,” she said.
Another suspect in the incident was sixteen-year-old Taron Kelly, who was arrested. He was charged with armed carjacking, armed robbery, motor vehicle theft, possession of a handgun, and being a minor in possession of a handgun. Because of the severity of the charges, Baltimore County prosecutors are eager to try Kelly as an adult despite his youth. He is being held in jail without bond. The third suspect has not yet been caught by police.
Meanwhile, the officer responsible for mowing down Taylor has been placed on administrative leave. Baltimore City police are investigating the crash to see if the officer had acted within their rights or if they had overstepped by mowing down the young man who was fleeing the vehicle.