The deputy superintendent of the Maryland Natural Resources Police resigned Tuesday after being charged Saturday night with driving under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident and negligent driving near Ocean City, officials said.
Lt. Col. Ernest Leatherbury Jr., 55, a retired Maryland State Police commander, was second in command at the agency responsible for enforcing conservation and boating safety laws. The force, which also oversees state parks, public lands and waterways, has more than 200 officers.
Leatherbury had stopped his departmental Chevrolet Tahoe patrol SUV at a red light, then backed into another vehicle, about 9:30 p.m. Saturday on eastbound Route 50 at Route 707 in Berlin, a few miles west of Ocean City, state police said in response to a Baltimore Sun inquiry.
The driver of the other vehicle called the state police Berlin Barrack and reported the SUV leaving the scene, “with the caller following behind while on the phone with the barrack,” according to state police.
“Troopers from the Berlin Barrack responded and found the Chevrolet where it had stopped in a parking lot” on Route 113, state police spokesman Greg Shipley wrote in a statement.
Troopers “detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage on Leatherbury,” began an impaired driving investigation, arrested him and took him to the Berlin Barrack for processing, Shipley said.
The driver of the other vehicle did not report any injuries, Shipley said.
Leatherbury could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and his charges had not yet been entered into online court records, so it was not clear whether he has hired an attorney.
He was released to a sober driver after the incident, state police said.
State police said the arrest was reported to executive command personnel at Natural Resources Police.
Leatherbury’s agency confirmed it had been notified about 10 p.m. and said Tuesday afternoon that its No. 2 in charge was resigning, effective immediately, following an “emergency suspension pending an internal investigation,” according to department policy.
“Questions about the incident and investigation should be referred to Maryland State Police,” said Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Lauren Moses in a statement.
Retired after more than 28 years from the State Police in 2012, Leatherbury, who lives in Ocean City, served as chief of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s police force for nearly three years until taking the post at Natural Resources Police in 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He took over as interim chief of police in Crisfield after his father, who was Maryland State Police’s highest-ranking Black officer when he retired to lead the Crisfield City Police Department, died of a heart attack at age 55 in 2003.
It was not clear who will replace Leatherbury as Natural Resources Police deputy superintendent.