Charges dropped in death of biker

Scheduling confusion kept officer out of court

Friday, Nov. 7, 2008

Sarah E. Brown, 50, of Port Republic was charged in Calvert County District Court with negligent driving, failure to yield right of way and two counts of failure to secure a child under 8 in a safety seat in a collision that threw 43-year-old Port Republic resident Larry G. Hogan II from his motorcycle, causing fatal injuries. Brown was making a left turn onto Broomes Island Road and failed to yield to the motorcycle. The motorcycle hit the right quarter panel of Brown's vehicle at around noon on Aug. 1, documents state.

Hogan's family is upset about the case being dropped, said Dustin Maxwell, Hogan's nephew.

"Why didn't they just postpone it? It was absurd," Maxwell said. Several family members were present at Brown's trial, he said, and they couldn't believe it when they heard the charges were being dropped by Calvert County District Court Judge Robert Riddle.

When Calvert County State's Attorney Laura Martin looked into the case, she said she learned that the Annapolis District Court docket that notifies police of trial dates listed Jan. 5 as Brown's trial date, not Nov. 5.

"Evidently there was some sort of snafu," Martin said. The charging police officer normally appears and testifies in cases, but state's attorneys don't normally show up at traffic cases unless the violation is incarcerable, she said. Martin said she will look into the case and review the charges for prosecution. The charging police officer in the case was Maryland State Police Trooper David Saucerman.

Hogan, who was a member of Dunkirk and St. Leonard volunteer fire departments and avid bowler, worked for Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative for more than 22 years and was active and well-known in the community.

charvat@somdnews.com