A Maryland state trooper was seriously injured early yesterday when he was involved in a car accident on Route 136 near Cedar Lane in Abingdon, according to state police in Bel Air.
Trooper Mark S. Rivera, 28, of Harford County was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center where he was in stable condition yesterday with a broken leg and wrist.
Police said a witness reported that Rivera was pursuing a car that had illegally passed two vehicles in the northbound lanes of Route 136 when the crash occurred about 1 a.m.
The trooper maneuvered around the first of the two vehicles, driven by the witness, which slowed and gave way.
However, the car in front of that one failed to slow down, and then turned left in front of the trooper's car, which caused the vehicles to collide, according to the witness' account.
The collision pushed the trooper's vehicle onto the southbound shoulder before it struck a telephone pole, police said.
The driver of the car involved in the collision with the trooper's vehicle, Michael Lee Smith, 41, of the 1000 block of Cedar Lane in Bel Air, was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated, according to state police.
State police said he also was charged with possession of marijuana.
The vehicle that Rivera was trying to stop has not been located, police said.
