Inebriated driver charged with DUI after vehicle strikes MDTA officer conducting a traffic stop

BALTIMORE — Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) Police have arrested and charged a Woodlawn man who was driving under the influence after a Sunday morning crash that seriously injured an MDTA Police Officer.

Shortly after 3 a.m., an MDTA Police Officer stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation on southbound I-95, near Exit 50. At approximately 3:10 a.m., as the officer spoke with the occupants of the stopped vehicle, a black Mercedes sedan driven by and the driver, 28-year-old Rodney I. Berger, struck both the officer and the stopped vehicle.

The MDTA Police Officer was transported to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Neither Berger nor the occupants of the stopped vehicle were injured.

After a preliminary investigation, MDTA Police Officers took Berger into custody without incident. He was charged with driving under the influence and other charges.

The crash is still under investigation by the MDTA Police Collision Reconstruction Unit. Anyone with information is asked to call MDTA Police at 410-537-1209.

Maryland’s “Move Over” law requires drivers approaching from the rear of an emergency vehicle with its visual signals activated to, if possible, make a lane change into a lane not immediately adjacent to the emergency vehicle. If moving to another lane is not possible or is unsafe, the law requires drivers to slow down when passing the stopped vehicle.

Persons charged with a crime are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.