A D.C. police sergeant has been charged with brandishing a gun and a crowbar in what police described as a road-rage incident on a Maryland highway, authorities said.
Kaila Crews, 29, of Annapolis, was arrested Thursday and charged with first- and second-degree assault and using a firearm in the commission of a felony, according Maryland state police. Crews could not be located for comment and online court records on Friday did not include the name of an attorney representing her.
Police said they were called on Dec. 18 to the westbound lanes of Route 50 near Interstate 97 for an alleged road-rage incident. The alleged victim, a 35-year-old woman who was unharmed, told state troopers that the suspect brandished a crowbar and firearm.
D.C. police said that Crews has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.
Court records filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court detail the victim’s account of the altercation.
The woman told police that she was driving behind a silver Toyota RAV4 when the driver abruptly braked multiple times. The woman changed lanes to distance herself from the erratic driving, according to court records.
She then looked over at the RAV4, she told police, and saw the driver wave a small, black handgun. When she saw the gun, according to court records, she swerved and almost struck a tractor-trailer in another lane.
The woman provided the license plate number to police, who found the RAV4 was registered to Crews. Court records show that police obtained a search warrant for Crews’s cellphone location information and car. Searches yielded network interactions showing her phone had been in the area of the altercation on the afternoon on Dec. 18 and a loaded black Glock 17 handgun in her car.
On New Year’s Eve, Crews agreed to an interview with investigators, according to court records.
She confirmed being involved in the interaction but told investigators that she was the victim and that the other driver had “terrorized” her, court records state. She denied having a gun visible to others. But later in the interview, court records say, she acknowledged removing the gun from a pocket and placing it either on her lap or on the passenger seat.
She told investigators that she was “in fear” of the other driver but could not explain why she didn’t pull over, take an exit, change lanes to distance herself or call 911, according to the court records.
The court records do not mention a crowbar, though the news release from the Maryland State Police department states that Crews brandished a crowbar before waving a gun.
Police arrested Crews near her home the day after the interview, two weeks after the altercation.
Crews was featured in a social media video posted by D.C. police in October 2024 titled “Why I Chose MPD: Sergeant Crews.” In the video, she said she’s been at the police department for five years and aims to “climb the MPD ladder” to become a captain. She also encouraged women to join law enforcement.
“My advice to people that want to apply to law enforcement, specifically women, is to just do it,” Crews said in the video. “Don’t be discouraged by anybody who tells you that you might not be strong enough. You can do anything that you put your mind to.”
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