The Temple Hills man who was shot by a Howard County police officer after he attempted to run her down with his vehicle in February 2017 has been sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison. A jury convicted Tremayne Middleton Dorsey, 39, of the 4500 block of Deer Park Drive, of two counts of second-degree assault, resisting arrest, theft-less than $1,000 and driving on a suspended license last June. He was sentenced by Howard County Circuit Court Judge William V. Tucker yesterday.
The officer was dispatched to the 7200 block of Fawn Crossing Drive in Clarksville around 3:15 a.m. on February 24, 2017, where a homeowner reported that an unknown suspicious vehicle was parked in her driveway. The officer found the car unoccupied and called for a tow truck. Shortly before the vehicle could be loaded onto a flatbed tow truck the officer spotted a man walking along the street toward the vehicle. He identified himself as Tremayne Dorsey and stated that he had been jogging in the neighborhood and that he was the driver of the vehicle.
While questioning Dorsey, the officer learned from radio dispatch that Dorsey was wanted on an open arrest warrant. Dorsey struggled with the officer while trying to get into his car and then drove into the tow truck. The officer and tow truck operator testified that Dorsey then backed up and drove directly at the officer who jumped out of his path and fired her weapon as he attempted his escape. Dorsey sustained a gunshot wound to the neck and crashed his car into a tree and a ditch near the end of the driveway. The officer was not seriously injured.
During the sentencing hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Ritter stated, “This was a terrifying event…(that) went from a standard call to a life-threatening situation.” She invoked the name of Baltimore County Police Officer Amy Caprio who was struck and killed by a burglary suspect at the wheel of a stolen Jeep last May. Ritter recalled an emotional conversation with the Howard County officer about the impact the similarities of the two incidents had on the officer’s mother.
Judge Tucker noted that the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation recommended that he not impose probation because of Dorsey’s “repeated violations” of probation orders for previous offenses. The judge sentenced Dorsey to three years for resisting arrest, a consecutive sentence of one year for driving on a suspended license and a six-month, consecutive sentence on the theft charge. The two assault convictions merged into resisting arrest for sentencing purposes.
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