News Releases

Off-Duty Officer Witnesses Collision; Involved Driver Arrested After Fleeing in Stolen Vehicle

For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 3, 2019

Officers from the Montgomery County Department of Police – 5th District have arrested and charged Anthony Leonard Jr, age 20, of Centerway Road in Gaithersburg, with vehicle theft.

On October 1 at approximately 6:15 p.m., an off-duty Montgomery County Police officer was driving his marked police vehicle north on Ridge Road (MD-27) approaching Snowden Farm Parkway in Clarksburg when he observed a Lincoln Continental make a sudden lane change and strike another vehicle.  The officer activated his emergency lights and siren to maneuver through traffic to assist with the collision and observed that the striking vehicle was not stopping and was accelerating and continuing north on Ridge Road.  The Lincoln turned on Apple Orchard Way and stopped at the intersection of Muscadine Drive.  The driver, identified as Leonard, and four passengers (two adult males and two female juveniles) fled from the vehicle but were apprehended in the area.

The vehicle was determined to have been stolen from a residence in Potomac during the overnight hours of September 27 to September 28.  The vehicle had been parked unlocked with the keys left in the vehicle.

Centralized Auto Theft Section (CATS) detectives interviewed all of the suspects. The passengers stated that they did not know that the car was stolen and asked Leonard to stop the car as he fled from the collision scene.  Leonard stated that he told the four passengers to get out of the vehicle when he stopped it on Apple Orchard Way because the car was stolen.

Leonard was transported to the Central Processing Unit and charged with vehicle theft.  He has been released on bond.  Based on the investigation and interviews, the four passengers were released without charges.

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Release ID: 19-385
Media Contact: Rebecca Innocenti 
Categories: vehicle-theft