A man is dead and Maryland's Office of the Attorney General is investigating after a brief police chase on Interstate 270 ended with a crash in the Rockville area of Montgomery County.
The closed lanes, which reopened around 1 p.m., backed up traffic for several hours on the major interstate.
Around 5 a.m. on Saturday, Montgomery County Police Department officers responded to a call asking for a welfare check on a man in a car on the Rockledge Road ramp.
Officers arrived and found a man with a gun in his lap, according to Montgomery County Police. That man was also believed to be intoxicated.
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When officers tried to stop the man from driving away, he sped off, heading northbound on I-270.
Police started a short, "approximately two-minute" chase, which ended when the man crashed on I-270 south of route 28.
According to Montgomery County Police, the man was ejected from the car, and was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
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Two other adult men in a car struck by the driver who died were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
The northbound lanes of 270 south of 28 were closed between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. for police investigation. Southbound lanes of 270 were closed at 28 but reopened just after 11 a.m., according to Montgomery County Police.
The Independent Investigations Division (IID) of AG's office is investigating the crash, with help from the Maryland State Police Crash Team.
