The 32-year-old West Baltimore man who died in a car accident in Lansdowne after fleeing police early Sunday was not in a stolen car and was not wanted on a warrant, Baltimore County police said yesterday.
It remained unclear why Warren Harris of the 5400 block of Frederick Ave. sped away from the officer, police said. The accident is under investigation.
An officer stopped Harris, who was driving a 1993 Ford Taurus, for speeding on Hammonds Ferry Road near Lansdowne Boulevard, police said.
Harris sped away from the officer onto Daisy Avenue, hit a tree and house and rolled the car onto its roof, police said. Paramedics removed him from the car and he was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he died from his injuries, according to accident investigators.
Although the officer initially followed the car, he broke off the pursuit before the crash, said Officer Shawn Vinson, a police spokesman.
The department's pursuit policy requires officers to balance the risk of chasing a suspect against the seriousness of the crime, Vinson said.
Harris, who had a criminal record dating to 1989, spent a few weeks at the Baltimore County Detention Center in February, charged with drug possession and distribution, court records show. But he was released in early March and a trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court was pending, according to the records.
