Police ID Maryland State Trooper Who Fatally Shot DWI Suspect Who Allegedly Dragged Him With Car Down I-95
PIKESVILLE, MD. (WJZ) — Maryland State Police are identifying the trooper who fatally wounded an impaired driving suspect on I-95 as the trooper was being dragged away in an attempt by the driver to flee the traffic stop.
He is identified as Trooper First Class Robert Kreczmer, a three-year veteran of the state police department and is assigned to patrol duties at the Waterloo Barrack.
He is on routine administrative leave as the investigation continues.
The suspect who was killed is Julio Cesar Moran-Ruiz. The incident happened just after 2 a.m. Friday on northbound I-95 near Rt. 100 in Elkridge.
Police said a uniformed trooper in a marked police vehicle stopped a suspected impaired driver after seeing a red Ford Escape weaving across multiple lanes of I-95. The driver pulled over to the right shoulder. The trooper noticed the man driving was impaired and that there were several alcohol beverage containers.
When the trooper requested backup and asked the driver to get out of the vehicle several times, the man refused- giving him a false name. Moran-Ruiz then put the car in drive, and when Kreczmer tried to take the keys out of the ignition, Moran-Ruiz accelerated the car, dragging him more than 2,000 feet down the interstate.
Police said the trooper feared for his life and shot the driver and was thrown from SUV and into the center median. Another trooper found the injured trooper not far from where the car eventually came to a stop.
The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have also said troopers found a machete under the driver's seat when it was searched, but did not say if Kreczmer knew the machete was there or if Moran-Ruiz had threatened him with it.