SALISBURY — Allied local law enforcement agencies on Thursday were conducting a massive manhunt for a felony drug fugitive who used his pickup truck on Wednesday night to assault police officers who were trying to arrest him.
A combined police search effort continued on Thursday for a felony drug fugitive identified as Edwin L. Fletcher, 31, whose last known address was on Riverside Drive Extended in Salisbury. Shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday, a team of combined state, county and local police were searching for Fletcher in an attempt to serve him with an arrest warrant for a felony drug charge.
Soon after, Fletcher was observed in a parking lot off Market Street in Salisbury in a rented Dodge Ram pickup. When police converged on Fletcher, identifying themselves and ordering him to surrender, the suspect rammed a Maryland State Police vehicle head on and then drove up onto the cruiser. In fear for the life of the trooper, another officer on the arrest team fired at Fletcher, but there is no indication the suspect was struck. Fletcher then fled the area in the truck, but the vehicle was found abandoned a short time later.
The Maryland State Police trooper and the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Deputy injured during Fletcher’s ramming of the police vehicle were both treated and released from the hospital overnight. Both will remain on leave while recovering from their injuries.
Maryland State Police, along with Wicomico County and Salisbury officers, continued to search for Fletcher throughout Wednesday night and into Thursday to no avail. The search is being coordinated by the Maryland State Apprehension Team, a combined unit of police investigators skilled in location fugitives. While the search continued in Wicomico throughout Wednesday night and into Thursday, the apprehension team has notified all law enforcement agencies throughout the Lower Shore region to be on the lookout for Fletcher, including law enforcement agencies in Worcester and Somerset Counties, for example.
Fletcher is described as an African-American male, roughly 6’2” and 160 pounds. He was already wanted on a warrant for a felony drug charge and additional charges are pending in connection with his alleged assault on police officers on Wednesday night.
Wednesday’s incident marks the second time in two weeks a law enforcement officer in Salisbury has been forced to fire a weapon at a suspect during an assault on police.