Maryland: Teen drinking party ends in dead 2 teens with others injured and Sam Ellis awaiting DUI manslaughter charges

Sam Ellis will face double DUI rap for deaths of Calvin Li and Alex Murk

According to Montgomery County, Maryland, Police, charges are pending in a teenage booze cruise that left two dead, others injured and the teenage driver of the vehicle that became this year’s poster child for not drinking at teen parties and then driving crashed into a fence at a high rate of speed.  Police are also looking at charges for an adult who was in the home where the teen drinking party took place.

North Potomac teen DUI double fatal Sam Ellis driver. Photo courtesy of WJLA Sam Sweeney

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department-Collision Reconstruction Unit (CRU) continue to investigate a single- vehicle, double fatal collision that occurred last night in North Potomac. The driver and two of the passengers are now being identified.

The DUI killer driver of the 2006 Acura TSX is identified as Samuel Joseph Ellis, age 18, of North Potomac. Ellis was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The front seat passenger is not being identified due to the on-going investigation. The front seat passenger was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The rear seat passengers were discovered deceased at the scene and are identified as Alexander Murk, age 18, of Potomac and Calvin Jia-Xing Li, age 18, of Rockville.

At approximately 11:52 p.m., the Emergency Communications Center (9-1-1) received a call for a collision in the 13800 block of Dufief Mill Road. Officers responded to the scene and determined that four people had been in the vehicle at the time of the collision.

Two vehicle passengers were declared deceased at the scene. Two additional vehicle occupants, to include the driver, were transported to a local hospital, both with serious injuries.
Preliminary investigation indicates that the occupants of the vehicle had attended an underage drinking party in area.

The occupants left the party in a 2006 Acura TSX and were traveling west in the 13800 block of Dufief Mill Road. For reasons still under investigation, the vehicle left the roadway, struck several fixed objects and came to rest in the front yard of a residence on Dufief Mill Road. Detectives of the Collision Reconstruction Unit are working with officers from the Alcohol Initiatives Section to investigate the events leading up to the collision.

Detectives are investigating speed, alcohol and lack of safety restraints as possible factors in this collision.

This collision remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620. Callers may remain anonymous.