OFFICER DOWN---MARYLAND www.privateofficer.com
Baltimore MD. Jan 2 2008 A 40-year-old Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer was killed on New Year's Eve by a hit-and-run driver in Baltimore, his superior officers said yesterday.
The officer, Courtney G. Brooks, a 13-year veteran of the force, was part of a traffic detail near the interchange of Interstates 95 and 395 when he was struck about 11:20 p.m. Monday, said Marcus Brown, chief of the Transportation Authority Police.
A city Fire Department ambulance took Brooks to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 12:29 a.m. yesterday.
Six hours later in Cecil County, police found the vehicle that they think struck the officer before speeding away.
The green 1994 Ford Explorer - with heavy front-end damage, a cracked windshield and a temporary Delaware tag - was spotted at the Flying J truck stop in North East. Within half an hour, officers had arrested the SUV's owner, Kerri Joanna King, at her home in nearby Elkton.
Brown said King had not been charged in Brooks' death but was being held on a failure-to-appear warrant resulting from a drunken-driving arrest Sept. 27. She was pulled over by a Transportation Authority Police officer on I-95 and ticketed for drunken driving and driving with an expired license, according to court records.
"She's a person of interest," said Brown, who added that after her arrest, King asked for an attorney.
Brown, speaking to reporters at the authority's headquarters on Broening Highway, could not say whether alcohol was a factor in the accident, which is being investigated.
When he was hit, Brooks had been stopping trucks from driving into downtown during the New Year's Eve fireworks celebration. Brooks, aided by at least 30 flares placed in the road to alert motorists, was alone at the time of the accident while his two partners took a break, Brown said.
Brooks had three children and lived with his fiancee in Carroll County.
"He loved the job he was doing," Brown said. "He was really an inspiration to everyone who worked with him."
Brooks graduated from the Transportation Authority's police academy in 1994 and was a member of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Unit, said Kelly L. Melhem, a spokeswoman for the authority.
Gov. Martin O'Malley's office released a statement yesterday saying that Brooks' death last night "as thousands gathered to celebrate the New Year is a somber reminder of the courageous work done by law enforcement officers throughout our state - at the state and local level - to keep the citizens of Maryland safe."
Brooks is one of four Maryland law enforcement officers killed by hit-and-run drivers since statistics on police fatalities were first compiled in 1808, said David H. Muhl, a sergeant with the Crofton Police Department who operates Maryland Fallen Police Officers Memorial Inc.
The officer, Courtney G. Brooks, a 13-year veteran of the force, was part of a traffic detail near the interchange of Interstates 95 and 395 when he was struck about 11:20 p.m. Monday, said Marcus Brown, chief of the Transportation Authority Police.
A city Fire Department ambulance took Brooks to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 12:29 a.m. yesterday.
Six hours later in Cecil County, police found the vehicle that they think struck the officer before speeding away.
The green 1994 Ford Explorer - with heavy front-end damage, a cracked windshield and a temporary Delaware tag - was spotted at the Flying J truck stop in North East. Within half an hour, officers had arrested the SUV's owner, Kerri Joanna King, at her home in nearby Elkton.
Brown said King had not been charged in Brooks' death but was being held on a failure-to-appear warrant resulting from a drunken-driving arrest Sept. 27. She was pulled over by a Transportation Authority Police officer on I-95 and ticketed for drunken driving and driving with an expired license, according to court records.
"She's a person of interest," said Brown, who added that after her arrest, King asked for an attorney.
Brown, speaking to reporters at the authority's headquarters on Broening Highway, could not say whether alcohol was a factor in the accident, which is being investigated.
When he was hit, Brooks had been stopping trucks from driving into downtown during the New Year's Eve fireworks celebration. Brooks, aided by at least 30 flares placed in the road to alert motorists, was alone at the time of the accident while his two partners took a break, Brown said.
Brooks had three children and lived with his fiancee in Carroll County.
"He loved the job he was doing," Brown said. "He was really an inspiration to everyone who worked with him."
Brooks graduated from the Transportation Authority's police academy in 1994 and was a member of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Unit, said Kelly L. Melhem, a spokeswoman for the authority.
Gov. Martin O'Malley's office released a statement yesterday saying that Brooks' death last night "as thousands gathered to celebrate the New Year is a somber reminder of the courageous work done by law enforcement officers throughout our state - at the state and local level - to keep the citizens of Maryland safe."
Brooks is one of four Maryland law enforcement officers killed by hit-and-run drivers since statistics on police fatalities were first compiled in 1808, said David H. Muhl, a sergeant with the Crofton Police Department who operates Maryland Fallen Police Officers Memorial Inc.
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