A suspect has been arrested in connection with the high-speed police chase that killed a Prince George's County police officer, authorities say.
The man was being questioned Tuesday afternoon after the suspect vehicle was found in the District. The silver Acura was found about 3 a.m. on the 400 block of St. Louis Street SE.
A police spokesman said he did not know what charges the suspect faced in connection with Monday's crash that killed 23-year-old Officer Adrian Morris, of Laurel. She did not know whether the person in custody was the suspected driver of the Acura during the chase.
Law enforcement sources said Morris and Officer Michael Risher were investigating a purse-snatching from a vehicle at the Laurel Shell Station that occurred about an hour before the crash Monday afternoon.
The officers were reviewing surveillance video around noon on Monday when a gas station attendant noticed that the same suspects had returned in the suspect vehicle with temporary tags.
The suspects apparently saw the officers and sped off, police said. Morris and Risher hopped into their police cruiser and gave chase on Interstate 95, police said. Morris was behind the wheel.
"I thought they'd really get them," said Shell Station Owner Tommy Martin. "They were just trying to do their job, and that officer did not deserve to die."
Prince George's County police placed an officer at his gas station on Friday, after the gas station was hit by three purse-snatchings from vehicles on consecutive days, Martin said.
One veteran officer said the snatching of pocketbooks from gas stations has reached "epidemic proportions," but the phenomenon had stayed under the radar because most of the incidents didn't involve weapons.
Police said Morris was attempting to catch up to the Acura on I-95 when he lost control of the cruiser, and the vehicle veered off the roadway and into a ditch.
One eyewitness told WJLA that he believed the Acura's driver intentionally cut off the marked cruiser.
Morris was born in Jamaica and became a United States citizen in 2009.
Risher was treated for injuries suffered in the crash and released from a hospital late Monday.
Crime Solvers Inc. has offered a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the motorist who contributed to the death of Morris.