As state police helicopters buzz overhead, police cruisers with lights flashing and sirens blaring raced along the streets of Prince George’s and Montgomery counties during the Feb. 16 evening rush hour in pursuit of the driver of a stolen state highway tow truck as the driver careened off other vehicles, including two state police cruisers, and the road during an hourlong chase that ended when the truck got stuck in a ditch on Route 29 in Silver Spring.
Nearly two weeks after the chaotic chase that left two police officers and one other driver injured, a Montgomery County District Court judge on Thursday ordered the alleged driver of the stolen truck, Flavio Lanuza, 27, of Laurel to be held without bond at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds.
Lanuza faces numerous charges, including first-degree assault, second-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, malicious destruction of property over $1,000 and disorderly conduct. He also faces charges in Prince George’s County, according to court officials.
“This is one of the most extreme dangers that I’ve seen in this community, maybe ever,” Judge Harry Reed III said during the bond hearing held in the Rockville court.
During the hearing, Lanuza’s attorney, Maria Mena, argued that Lanuza should not be held without bond and should receive mental health treatment because “it’s so apparent that this is someone who is showing symptoms of having a mental health crisis.”
She said that in the week leading up to the incident, Lanuza’s family observed that he was non-verbal and frequently pacing, which she said were symptoms of mental illness. She also noted that Lanuza, who immigrated from Nicaragua three years ago, has no criminal history in the U.S.
“Judge Reed very appropriately held the defendant in this case without bond,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in a press conference after the bond hearing.
On Feb. 16, shortly before 5 p.m., state police officers responded to a report of a hit-and-run involving four vehicles on the inner loop of I-495 at the Greenbelt Metro Station in Prince George’s County, according to the state police.
A Maryland State Highway Administration CHART (Coordinated Highways Action Response Team) vehicle responded to the scene and checked the welfare of the driver of a Ford, which had hit a guardrail. However, the driver exited his car, stole the tow truck, and then struck two vehicles as he fled the scene, state police said in a statement.
State troopers from multiple area barracks, along with police helicopters, searched for the truck, locating it at 5:50 p.m., according to the release. News helicopters also buzzed overhead.
While still in Prince George’s County, the driver allegedly entered a parking lot, drove into a grassy area and struck a pole attached to a powerline, according to the release. The driver left the lot and traveled to Montgomery County.
When officers tried to use a rolling roadblock to stop the truck, the driver allegedly intentionally collided with a marked state police car and then drove away, traveling on Gracefield Road in Silver Spring, charging documents stated.
Later, as the driver was exiting a gas station parking lot on East Randolph Road, he allegedly intentionally struck another state police vehicle, pushing it more than 50 feet, according to charging documents. The trooper in the car was taken to a nearby hospital due to injuries from the crash, charging documents said.
Police tried to stop him by deploying spike stop sticks in a one-way housing development, but when the truck’s tires were destroyed, the driver kept traveling on the vehicle’s metal rims, charging documents stated. Then, he entered traffic, now traveling in the wrong direction, and hit as many as eight vehicles on Route 29, charging documents said.
According to the state police, the driver allegedly struck 13 vehicles throughout the chase, leading to one driver, a Maryland state trooper and a Montgomery County police officer being transported to area hospitals due to injuries.
Ultimately, the tow truck got stuck in “soft ground” near a gas station in the 10700 block of Columbia Pike, also known as Route 29, according to police and charging documents.
Lanuza was taken into custody around 6:30 p.m., state police said. He was transported to Suburban Hospital for the treatment of his injuries, state police said.
He was transferred from the hospital to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on Wednesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Kyle O’Grady said.