4-Vehicle Crash Kills 1, Injures 2

Off-Duty Federal Officer Dies at Scene; Van Carrying 3 Inmates Was Involved

A man described by authorities as an off-duty police officer for the Defense Department died early yesterday morning in a four-vehicle traffic accident that also involved a Prince George's County Corrections Department van.

A corrections officer also was seriously injured in the accident. A second officer taken to the hospital was released later yesterday.

Police did not immediately release the cause of the accident, which occurred about 1:50 a.m. at Landover Road and Kilmer Street in the Landover area. They also did not release the identity of the Defense Department officer, saying his family was still being notified.

The off-duty police officer was driving a Chevrolet Camaro that collided with the van, which was carrying two corrections employees and three inmates, Prince George's police said.

The Camaro apparently struck one vehicle and then the corrections van, said a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was still being investigated.

Both corrections officials were taken to hospitals. Cpl. Clinton Copeland, a spokesman for the police department, said one suffered serious injuries.

One corrections officer was treated at Prince George's Hospital Center and released later yesterday, and the other was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The other two vehicles involved in the accident were a taxicab and a Nissan Altima. Copeland said their drivers were not injured.

Copeland said the Defense official was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lt. Col. Elizabeth Hibner, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said she had no information on the accident. She said many Defense Department installations use contracted security forces.

Copeland said none of the three inmates -- one woman and two men -- was seriously hurt.

County spokesman John Erzen said the inmates were being transferred from a police station in Hyattsville, where they had been booked after arrest, to the Prince George's County Correctional Facility in Upper Marlboro.

"It's a pretty standard thing," Erzen said. "We arrest people at all hours of the day and night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."