Maryland State Police arrest Laurel man accused of stealing truck, hitting 13 cars and hospitalizing 3 people
Maryland State Police identified a Laurel man who is accused of stealing a State Highway Administration truck and leading police on a two-county car chase that ended with him allegedly hitting 13 cars and sending a bystander and two law enforcement officers to the hospital on Friday.
State police said, in a Saturday news release, they had arrested and named the suspect as Flavio Cesar Lanunza, 27. He faces vehicle theft and first-degree assault charges. He also underwent treatment at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda for injuries afterward.
State police said troopers from the College Park barracks responded to a four-vehicle hit-and-run shortly before 5 p.m. Friday near Interstate 495 and the Greenbelt Metro Station in Prince George’s County, according to the release. One of the drivers, who was in a Ford Ranger truck, fled and drove into a nearby park-and-ride lot where he went off the road and struck a guard rail.
When a SHA truck came to check on him, Lanunza abandoned his Ford Ranger and stole the SHA truck, struck two cars, and fled, state police said.
State troopers from the Rockville, Forestville and College Park barracks located the SHA truck at 5:50 p.m. near Briggs Chaney Road and Greenmount Avenue in Calverton, where the truck then entered a parking lot off Beltsville Road, ran off the road and struck a pole. The driver then rammed a state police vehicle and other non-police vehicles, before driving onto Priscilla Drive in Montgomery County, according to the release.
State police said they and Montgomery County police arrested Lanunza at 6:30 p.m. in the 10700 block of Columbia Pike in Silver Spring, after the truck became disabled.
First responders transported a bystander and two law enforcement officers — a state trooper and Montgomery County police officer — to hospitals to be treated for injuries, the release said.
