BRANDYWINE, MARYLAND — Newly released body-camera and dashboard-camera footage is providing additional details about a police pursuit that began with a traffic stop and ended in a deadly wrong-way crash.
The incident happened August 25, 2026, after Charles County Sheriff’s deputies stopped a silver vehicle near Leonardtown Road and Lakewood Drive in Waldorf.
Authorities had received information from Arlington County, Virginia, that an occupant was wanted on more than 20 active warrants across multiple Maryland and Virginia jurisdictions.
According to investigators, 34-year-old Miya Tamerra Stringfield of Indian Head, Maryland, was initially sitting in the front passenger seat.
Authorities say she moved into the driver’s seat during the stop, pushed a deputy out of the vehicle’s doorway and fled while 33-year-old Alexis Cummings of Temple Hills remained in the back seat.
Deputies pursued the vehicle along Crain Highway but lost sight of it in heavy traffic.
Police later observed the vehicle traveling in the wrong direction, and a supervisor terminated the pursuit.
Seconds later, authorities say the vehicle crossed the median into oncoming traffic and crashed into two uninvolved vans near McKendree Road in Brandywine, in Prince George’s County.
Cummings suffered critical injuries and was transported to a trauma center.
She later died from her injuries on August 31.
Stringfield was also seriously injured.
Occupants of the other vehicles suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, and no deputies were reported injured.
🎥 NEW VIDEO RELEASED
On September 23, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office released body-worn camera and dashboard-camera footage documenting the traffic stop, the vehicle’s escape and the events surrounding the crash.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division (IID) is handling the investigation into the fatal police-involved collision.
The two Charles County deputies identified in the investigation are PFC Eddie Vanover, a five-year veteran, and Cpl. Justin Bottorf, a 13-year veteran.
The investigation remains ongoing.
