April 3, 2024
(SALISBURY, MD) – Maryland State Police are continuing to investigate a fatal hit-and-run crash involving a utility worker in Wicomico County.
The deceased is identified as Thomas R. Attix, 64, of Dover, Delaware. The suspect, Jamal Scarborough, 27, of Marion Station, Maryland, is charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, causing a life-threatening injury while operating a vehicle in a criminally negligent manner, causing serious injury to a vulnerable individual, attempting to elude police and related offenses. He is being held without bail at the Wicomico County Detention Center.
Shortly before 10:25 a.m. on March 27, an off-duty trooper from the Maryland State Police Salisbury Barrack was driving his marked Department vehicle south on Airport Road adjacent to Salisbury Regional Airport, when he stopped at a work zone where a flagging operation was in effect. Workers were allowing northbound traffic to proceed.
According to a preliminary investigation, Scarborough, who was driving a blue Jeep, was in front of the trooper’s vehicle, when he swerved into the northbound lane in an attempt to bypass the work zone. Scarborough swerved back into the southbound lanes to avoid oncoming traffic before driving off the road and into a roadside ditch.
According to a preliminary investigation, Scarborough accelerated his vehicle, ran over the orange casings placed on the road by the utility crew and ran over Attix, who was on the ground working. Attix was transported by ambulance to TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Hospital before being flown by private helicopter to Christiana Hospital for treatment of his injuries. He was declared deceased on Tuesday.
The off-duty trooper, along with troopers from the Salisbury Barrack and an additional off-duty trooper, pursued Scarborough briefly through Airport Road, Maryland Route 12 and Nutters Cross Road before apprehending the suspect on a field near Johnson Road in Salisbury.
Scarborough was arrested at the scene. The Maryland State Police Crash Team is leading the investigation. Additional charges are pending following completion of the investigation and consultation with the Wicomico County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The crash remains under investigation.
Jamal Scarborough
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CONTACT: Office of Media Communications, msp.media@maryland.gov
