UPDATE: Officer involved pedestrian crash found to be non preventable in Ocean City
An Ocean City officer involved – pedestrian collision has reportedly been found to be non-preventable.
According to the town of Ocean City, the Maryland State Police have finished the investigation into a deadly pedestrian crash that involved an on-duty OCPD officer. The investigation was reportedly directed to Worcester County State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby who, officials say, found that there was no criminal liability to evaluate any party. Officials say an internal investigation was also made and it was found that the collision was not preventable.
On May 3, around 1:11AM, a pedestrian was reportedly struck at the intersection of 94th street by a marked Ocean City Police patrol car driven by PFC. Xeniya Patterson, while she was on duty. The pedestrian, 67-year-old Jeffrey Yale DeLong, of Kutztown, PA, was reportedly crossing Coastal Highway from east to west in the north crosswalk against the pedestrian signal when he was struck. Officials say, the officer was going southbound on Coastal Highway on routine patrol at the time.
Delong was taken by Ocean City EMS to Atlantic General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The investigation was then turned over to the Maryland State Police Crash Team, and once it was finished, investigators gave their findings to the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office and presented those findings to the OCPD Crash Review Board late last week.
An internal investigation was reportedly conducted by the Crash Review Board, and it was found that the crash was not preventable, and no disciplinary action or additional training was needed. Officials say that the OCPD is made up of OCPD Command Staff members and other employees highly trained in traffic collision investigations who routinely review all traffic collisions involving on-duty police personnel.
