On July 28 at approximately 8 a.m., officers responded to the area of Piney Church Road near Renner Road in Waldorf for the report of a single vehicle car crash. A preliminary investigation showed the driver, a 20-year-old male from Waldorf, was traveling north on Piney Church Road when he lost control of the car and hit a utility pole. The driver and two passengers – a 19-year-old male and a 20-year old female – were transported to a hospital by ambulance with serious injuries. A fourth occupant, Leia Jessica Bettis, 20, of Waldorf, was pronounced deceased on the scene. It is not immediately clear why the driver left the roadway. Cpl. B. Saunders of the Traffic Operations Unit is investigating.
The Charles County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service law enforcement agency comprised of more than 600 police, corrections and civilian personnel responsible for protecting more than 150,000 residents. The CCSO was accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) in 2001 has been designated as a CALEA Gold Standard of Excellence agency since 2011. Established in 1658, the CCSO is one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the United States. For more information, visit www.ccso.us.