Man, 19, Is Charged in Slaying of Md. Officer

Later that morning, shortly before noon, Findley pulled his cruiser in front of the suspects' blue Chevrolet Silverado to stop them from leaving Laurel Pines Apartments. On Friday afternoon, police could be seen collecting shreds of clothing and other evidence more than a block away from where Findley was initially struck.

"We're just extremely overwhelmed right now," said Al Schwartz, chief of the Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department, where Findley volunteered. "We're just glad someone was charged."

Findley, a 10-year member of the force, was the first Prince George's officer to be killed in the line of duty since his close friend, Cpl. Steven Gaughan, died in a shootout in 2005. They are the only two county officers killed in the line of duty this decade, and both were members of a special unit that pursues repeat violent crime offenders and car thieves.

The department began forming special assignment teams in each district in the late 1980s and early '90s to respond to a growing need to get dangerous criminals off the streets. The teams have since been expanded to include car theft units and have been deployed in a variety of missions, including anti-gang efforts, in recent years.

Lt. John Decker led the department's first unit, which was started in its Beltsville station, where Findley and Gaughan were assigned. There, a wall of plaques celebrates the unit's accomplishments: the arrests of a serial rapist, drug kings and car thieves, among others.

"They go after the worst of the worst. They deal with the real criminals, the immediate threats," said Decker, now a lieutenant in the department's Hyattsville station.

The units are a key part of the county's policing effort, he said. "You don't put your slugs in there. You put your warriors in there, guys who have a feel for it and have proven they can catch real criminals," he said.

Capt. Scott Haines, assistant commander of the county's police District 6, said Findley had been promoted to the team because of his efforts as a patrol officer.

Maj. Dwayne Preston, commander of the district, said Findley died doing what members of the team do "on a normal basis."

On Friday morning, Findley and other officers from the unit had spotted stolen license plates on the blue pickup and were "sitting on it," conducting surveillance to see whether anyone would return to the vehicle. The two suspects did, and, in an attempt to prevent the suspects from reaching the public roadway and the possibility of a chase, the officers boxed in the pickup.

"Findley was the kind of guy to pull his car in front," said Decker, who had worked with him for several years and who acknowledged that the practice of getting in front of a stolen car can be dangerous but said it is better than letting a chase spill onto public streets. "If you get behind them, they're not going to stop, so you want to stop them before they get mobile," he said. "Any time you try to block a stolen vehicle, there's a chance it could happen the way it happened to Findley."

Decker said he was not surprised that the county's only two fallen officers in the past 13 years were members of the team, but he said it was tragic that it happened to two great officers and two who were such good friends. "It comes with the territory, but these two, being so close together, it's just real bad luck."

Staff writers Jenna Johnson and William Wan and staff researcher Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.