Driver found injured in field near Route 5

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008

A helicopter crew flew 34-year-old Christopher Michael King of Leonardtown to the Prince George’s Hospital Center, St. Mary’s sheriff’s deputies report, after the incident shortly before 8 p.m. that day along the state highway.

Sheriff’s deputy Elizabeth Trossbach initially spotted an oncoming vehicle travel onto a right shoulder to pass other traffic, and she turned her cruiser around with its emergency equipment activated in an attempt to catch up with the vehicle, sheriff’s spokesperson Cindy Allen said.

The vehicle turned down a private dirt road, and was not located by Trossbach when she followed, Allen said. Returning to Route 5, Trossbach ‘‘saw a Jeep overturned on the roadside, and the driver was running into a cornfield,” Allen said. Trossbach chased after the motorist but could not locate him, so she returned to her vehicle and resumed the search with the assistance of a police dog, Allen said. ‘‘She found him hiding under some brush,” Allen said, ‘‘and he had injuries from the accident.”

The motorist’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, Allen said. The incident is not considered to be a police chase, she said, because there was no determination that the motorist was trying to evade the officer.

JOHN WHARTON