FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts
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BALTIMORE, MD – Today, Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced his decision not to seek charges in the Wednesday, June 4, 2025 officer-involved fatal collision that occurred in the city of Baltimore, Maryland.
On Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at approximately 2:18 a.m., a Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) officer was traveling on northbound I-95 when he observed a vehicle operating erratically by intermittently speeding up and slowing down alongside his cruiser. As the two vehicles approached Exit 54, the driver, later identified as Gabriel Omar Castillo, drifted into the officer’s lane without a signal. Castillo fully moved into the officer’s lane, narrowly missing the front of the police cruiser, then engaged his turn signal and accelerated away from the cruiser at a high rate of speed. The officer followed the vehicle at a distance, observing as Castillo swerved within and between lanes, until the vehicle left the highway at Exit 55. The officer followed the vehicle off the highway, then activated his lights and siren and attempted a traffic stop. Castillo did not stop and instead turned onto E. McComas Street and accelerated at a high rate of speed. A few moments later, Castillo lost control of the vehicle and struck a guardrail and a curb, which sent the vehicle airborne before it collided with a support pillar beneath northbound I-95. Officers located Castillo and the passenger, later identified as Ezequiel Eduardo Garcia-Chicas, at the crash scene. Officers attempted to provide medical aid until EMS arrived. Both occupants of the vehicle were pronounced dead on scene.
The Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division (IID) began investigating the officer-involved fatal collision on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, and concluded its investigation on Tuesday, September 9, 2025. After completing its investigation and evaluating all the available evidence, the Office of the Attorney General has determined that the subject officer did not commit a crime under Maryland law. Accordingly, the Attorney General has declined to prosecute the subject officer in this case.
A copy of the IID’s detailed investigative findings and analysis of relevant legal issues can be found in its declination report.
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