19-year-old driver charged after intentionally hitting officer on I-270 in Gaithersburg: police

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - An officer was left partially paralyzed after being struck by a reckless driver early Wednesday morning on Interstate 270 in Montgomery County, authorities say. 

Officials say the officer was struck just after 3:45 a.m. along the northbound lanes of the highway near Watkins Mill in Germantown.

Police have identified the suspect in the crash as 19-year-old Frederick Raphael Mayorga. 

Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said officers began monitoring a green Dodge Challenger driven by Mayorga in the early morning hours Wednesday, starting in the Clarksburg area. 

Jones said Mayorga has been known to provoke officers into chasing him but this morning, officers did not pursue the vehicle. Instead, they set up in strategic places up and down I-270 from Clarksburg to Rockville.

Mayorga was seen doing doughnuts, getting on and off of the highway wildly, swerving and speeding, reaching up to 110 mph. After he nearly ran another car off of the road, police made the decision to deploy stop sticks. 

That's when Sgt. Patrick Kepp parked his patrol car on the side of I-270 North and got out to lay down the stop sticks. 

Chief Jones said as Mayorga came up the highway, he saw Kepp and intentionally moved from the middle lanes to the far left lanes, barreling down the road toward Kepp’s patrol car. 

Mayorga hit Kepp and continued speeding down the highway but after a short distance, he hit stop sticks laid out by another officer and was apprehended. Another person in the vehicle was also taken into custody. 

Officers began to render aid to Kepp as they waited for EMS to arrive. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition and, according to Chief Jones, has lost the use of both of his legs. 

Kepp, 36, has been with the department since 2014 serving in the Alcohol Initiative Unit. 

"This incident has undoubtedly taken a toll on our department. Just last week, we lost one of own at the 4th district station and we are still grieving that loss," Chief Jones said.

Jones says Mayorga is well-known to police and that Kepp had even arrested him in May, charging him with several traffic violations including going 136 mph in a 55 mph zone. 

On top of charges for traffic violations, Mayorga is now charged with attempted first-degree murder. 

Montgomery County executive Marc Elrich commended Kepp’s bravery on Wednesday, and he called on penalty changes for these types of crimes.

"This is different than somebody speeding. This is someone speeding with the intention of provoking a high-speed chase. Putting other people at risk," Elrich said. "This should not be treated as a regular type of traffic incident."

Mayorga's bond hearing is scheduled for Thursday.