SALISBURY, MD – Maryland State Police (MSP) report that following a grand jury indictment, a Somerset County man has been charged with murder following a fatal hit-and-run crash involving a utility worker earlier this year in Wicomico County.
The Wicomico County State’s Attorney’s Office presented the case to the Wicomico County Grand Jury on May 20, 2024. The Grand Jury returned an indictment against Jamal Scarborough, 27, of Marion Station, Maryland.
Scarborough is charged with:
- Second-degree murder
- First-degree assault
- Negligent vehicular manslaughter
- Criminally negligent vehicular manslaughter
- Failure to return/remain at an accident involving death
- Failure of driver to render assistance to the injured
- Driving on a revoked license and related charges
Scarborough was already being held without bail at the Wicomico County Detention Center.
The deceased is identified as Thomas R. Attix, 64, of Dover, Delaware.
Shortly before 10:25 a.m. on March 27, an off-duty MSP trooper from the Maryland State Police Salisbury Barrack was driving his marked Department vehicle south on Airport Road adjacent to Salisbury Regional Airport, when he stopped at a work zone where a flagging operation was in effect. Workers were allowing northbound traffic to proceed.
According to a preliminary investigation, Scarborough, who was driving a blue Jeep, was in front of the trooper’s vehicle, when he swerved into the northbound lane in an attempt to bypass the work zone. Scarborough swerved back into the southbound lanes to avoid oncoming traffic before driving off the road and into a roadside ditch.
According to a preliminary investigation, Scarborough accelerated his vehicle and ran over Attix, who was on the ground working. Attix was transported by ambulance to TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Hospital before being flown by private helicopter to Christiana Hospital for treatment of his injuries. He was declared deceased on April 2.
The off-duty trooper, along with troopers from the Salisbury Barrack and an additional off-duty trooper, pursued Scarborough briefly through Airport Road, Maryland Route 12 and Nutters Cross Road before apprehending the suspect in a field near Johnson Road in Salisbury.
Scarborough was arrested at the scene. The Maryland State Police Crash Team is leading the investigation. Officers from the Maryland Natural Resources Police also assisted with this case.
