Officer Dies in Crash on I-495 Beltway

By Mark F. Gray, Special to the AFRO, [email protected]

Prince George’s County Police are mourning the loss of one of their own after a motorcycle crash claimed the life of an off duty officer in the early hours of Wednesday morning.  Officer Davon McKenzie, 24, was killed in a multi-vehicle crash while riding his motorcycle off the Capital Beltway in Largo, according to Maryland State Police who is handling the investigation.

“The Prince George’s County Police family is brokenhearted at the loss of this young officer and only son,”  said Prince George’s County Police Chief Hank Stawinski in a statement. “He was well respected and loved by his fellow officers. I, on behalf of all of us who were at the hospital and all those who couldn’t be, extend our deepest condolences to his family.”

McKenzie had been with the department since 2017 and was assigned to the patrol unit. He also was a school resource officer in Prince George’s County Public Schools.

According to police accounts McKenzie was riding his Suzuki motorcycle on the Capital Beltway between Maryland Route 202 and Arena Drive shortly after 11:20 p.m. Tuesday evening when a Nissan Altima was attempting to merge onto southbound Interstate I-495 from Maryland Route 202 when it struck a commercial street sweeper in the slow lanes near the ramp.

The driver of the Nissan then lost control and veered across all of the  southbound lanes and struck McKenzie’s motorcycle that was in the fast lane which impact threw McKenzie from the motorcycle, over the wall and into oncoming traffic, where he was struck by two northbound vehicles.

All vehicles involved in the crash remained on the scene.  McKenzie was transported to the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.

“Today we mourn the loss of Officer Davon McKenzie, who in addition to serving the Prince George’s County community served PGCPS students directly as a School Resource Officer at William Wirt Middle School,” PGCPS tweeted Wednesday morning. We send love to his family, department and all who knew him.”