Pubdate: Tue, 31 Oct 2000
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Petula Dvorak

MANHUNT NARROWS IN MD. TROOPER'S DEATH

The undercover drug buy that turned fatal for a Maryland state trooper in 
Northeast Washington last night was a planned operation and investigators 
are closing in on the suspected shooter, police said this morning.

The trooper, Edward M. Toatley, 37, a father of three, was shot about 8:40 
p.m. at Queens Chapel Road and Douglas Street, a neighborhood about a mile 
from the boundary between Prince George's County and the District.

"As you know, the shooter is still out there," Col. David B. Mitchell, 
state police superintendent, said at a press conference this morning. "I am 
confident that we are closing in on the identity of the person who murdered 
Eddie Toatley and hope and pray that he will be brought to justice without 
any further loss of life."

Toatley was a seasoned undercover investigator and the buy he was making 
was fairly routine, with backup officers in place and a planned target, 
officials said.

"Drug buys are extremely dangerous and volatile," Mitchell said. "Ed 
Toatley has made dozens and dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of 
hand-to-hand drug buys, during his career."

"This was not an instant case where an offer was made and Eddie accepted," 
Mitchell said. "This was planned, mapped out...all the troops knew the 
mission...knew the position of the person who murdered Eddie."

But even with other members of the Safe Streets task force­FBI agents, 
Prince George's County Police and perhaps a video surveillance van­nearby, 
something went wrong when Toatley was with the suspected dealer.

Toatley was in his car with a suspect in the 2000 block of Douglas Street 
NE, in the Langdon Park area, said Sgt. Joe Gentile, a D.C. police spokesman.

State police said it does not appear that the gunman knew Toatley was an 
undercover officer. "Things happened last night that show [the suspect] did 
not know Ed's identity as a trooper," Mitchell said.

The passenger of the car pulled out a handgun and shot Toatley before 
running from the scene, police said.

"The immediate concern was Eddie's condition," Miller said. As the 
accompanying officers rushed to aid their colleague, the shooter made his 
getaway.

Toatley, a trooper for 16 years, was taken by ambulance to the trauma unit 
of Washington Hospital Center, where he died shortly after 11 p.m., 
Mitchell said.

D.C. police are heading the investigation in their territory and are 
expected to release the identity of their suspect today, Mitchell said.

"You can run, but you can't hide," Mitchell said to the shooter. "No matter 
where you are, we'll find you."

Mitchell said he had recently had lunch with Toatley and talked about this 
investigation. Toatley told Mitchell the agency would be pleased with the 
results of their three-month operation.

Mitchell vowed that the investigation that took Toatley's life will not 
slow down because of his death. "If anyone dealing drugs out there thinks 
this will stop our resolve, they are sadly mistaken," he said.

Toatley's family was at his bedside last night as a Catholic priest 
administered the last rites.

His wife, Inez, a civilian employee of the state police, was "devastated" 
and "in a deep state of shock." He was the father of an 18-year-old son, a 
5-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter, Mitchell said.

Toatley, who was president of the Coalition of Black Maryland State 
Troopers, was part of a task force investigating drug activity in a zone 
embracing parts of Takoma Park, Prince George's County and the District of 
Columbia.

As part of the three-month investigation, which was initiated by the state 
police and involved the FBI, Mitchell said the trooper had been involved in 
making "hand-to-hand" drug buys. Last night, as the investigation was 
"wrapping up," Mitchell said investigators were arranging to make a buy.

According to one account, Toatley was struck in the head by at least one 
bullet.

The shooting sent platoons of officers from several agencies flooding into 
the neighborhood where it occurred, which is near Bladensburg Road and 
between New York and Rhode Island avenues. Dogs and a helicopter also were 
used in an effort to locate the trooper's assailant.

In the past, authorities had created an interagency task force of officers 
from the District and Prince George's County to make arrests in the 
corridor along Eastern Avenue, which forms part of the boundary between the 
District and Maryland.

Toatley and the officers working with him on such task forces were 
deputized as federal agents, giving them powers to cross jurisdictional 
boundaries to make arrests, Mitchell said.

In one of the more recent fatal shootings of a member of the state police, 
Trooper 1st Class Edward A. Plank was slain in 1995 after a traffic stop on 
the Eastern Shore.

"Eddie [Toatley] was very proud of what he did," Mitchell said. "The world 
is a better place because of him, and he wanted to make it so. He knew 
firsthand the dangers and the consequence of unchecked drug use and abuse 
right here in our state. He loved working undercover, and frankly he was 
one of the best, if not the best."

Mitchell addressed his troopers last night and told them to "live up to the 
example" Toatley set. Mitchell said Toatley was the 38th Maryland state 
trooper killed in the line of duty.

"It never gets any easier," he said, "and it is never routine."
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