A Maryland State Police trooper struck and killed a woman in Stevensville with his patrol car late Friday while responding to a report of a burglary, police said.
The woman, identified as Iraina J. Curtis, of Dover, Del., was struck after stepping into the travel lane on the Route 50 access ramp to westbound Shopping Center Drive, police said.
Curtis was pronounced dead at the scene. She was 29 years old.
According to police, State Trooper 1st Class Travis Nelson, 24, was responding to a report of a burglary in progress on the 100 block of North Lake Drive. A preliminary investigation indicated he did not have his emergency lights or siren activated.
Delaware resident Jerome Wheeler, 20, was with Curtis when she was struck, police said.
He told investigators the two were sitting on the wall along Shopping Center Drive waiting for a ride when Curtis asked to use his cell phone. After it was handed to her, she stood up and moved away from the wall and was struck by the trooper's car, a police account said.
That account said police did not know how fast the patrol car was going. The trooper had a 24-year-old man doing a ride-along in the patrol car at the time.
Neither the trooper or the passenger were seriously injured.
Police said the preliminary investigation confirms Curtis stepped into the roadway as the trooper drove down the ramp. They said she was wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans.
Nelson is assigned to road patrol duties at the Centreville barrack and was assisting the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Department. Nelson has been with the Maryland State Police for six years.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
