Two Law Enforcement Officials Killed in I-270 Crash

Steve Burns

WMAL.com

ROCKVILLE – (WMAL) A series of crashes on Interstate 270 in Rockville Friday night claimed the lives of an off-duty FBI Agent and an off-duty firefighter who stopped to help him.

Maryland State Police said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Carlos Wolff, 36, was involved in an initial incident in his personal car at around 10:00 p.m. in the fast lane of I-270 south, just south of Falls Road. Sander Cohen, a Deputy Chief in the Maryland State Fire Marshall’s Office and a lieutenant in Rockville’s Volunteer Fire Department, stopped to help. As he was off-duty, officials say Cohen was in his personal car with no emergency lights.

Both men had moved to the shoulder when a third car swerved to avoid the crash scene and hit them, State Police say. Cohen and Wolff were both thrown over the jersey barrier into the northbound lanes. At least one of them was struck by another car there. Three others were taken to the hospital with what officials describe as non-life threatening injuries.

As Cohen, 33, was engaged in actions to “protect life and preserve property,” Maryland State Police Colonel William Pallozzi said his passing will be considered a line of duty death.

“Deputy Chief Cohen had no idea that inside a vehicle he stopped to help was another law enforcement officer,” Pallozzi said. “Deputy Chief Cohen never hesitated to provide that help.”

Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said early indications are that alcohol did not factor into the incident. The striking driver stayed on the scene.

Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends, and colleagues of FBI Supervisory Special Agent Carlos Wolff, who passed away last night after being involved in a motor vehicle accident. Please keep SSA Wolff and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) December 9, 2017

Cohen joined the Rockville Fire Department in 2003, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer. He grew up in Rockville, attended Churchill High School, and had been living in Germantown.

Wolff had been assigned to the FBI’s Criminal Investigations division at FBI Headquarters. FBI officials said he had been with the bureau for 11 years.