Hudson County Detective Charged in Road Rage Shooting Out on Bail

A Hudson County Prosecutor's Office detective charged in the road road shooting death of a Maryland man on June 6 is out of an Anne Arundel County, Md. jail on $1 million bond, The Jersey Journal reported.

Joseph Walker, 40, of Eastampton, was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter after police said he used his .45 glock service revolver to shoot and kill 36-year-old Joseph Harvey, Jr., of Halethorpe, Md., on the shoulder of the northbound Route 3 ramp to I-97 in Anne Arundel County, Md. following a confrontation.

The incident is believed to have started shortly before 8:30 p.m. last Saturday when Walker, driving back to New Jersey with his wife and three kids in a gold Kia minivan, cut off Harvey's green Honda Accord about one mile south of where the shooting occurred, Maryland State Police said.

The stories of each party begin to differ at this point.

Walker's attorney, Anthony Pope, said Harvey pulled up alongside Walker's minivan and began hurling racial slurs at him and threatening to kill his family. 

Pope said Harvey and a passenger threw a bottle at the minivan's front passenger side door, where his wife was sitting, and eventually ran them off the road, ABC-7 reported.

Harvey's passenger, however, tells a different tale. He said Walker brandished a gun at them as the vehicles swerved and nearly struck each other, NorthJersey.com reported.

Both vehicles eventually pulled over on the shoulder of the I-97 ramp and Harvey and his passenger exited their vehicle to approach Walker's car, parked about 100 feet south of them, Maryland State Police said.

When Harvey approached Walker's minivan, Walker shot him three times from close range with his service revolver, police said. Harvey was taken by ambulance to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Walker's attorney said his client warned Harvey that he was a police officer and flashed his badge several times before firing at Harvey, The Star-Ledger reported.

"They're by his car; he's not by their car," Pope told ABC-7. "Basic logic says 'Wait a minute something's wrong with this.' They must have been advancing on him. They must have been the aggressors."

Harvey's passenger said both Walker and Harvey got out of their vehicles and he remained in Harvey's Honda Accord during the shooting, but did hear it occur.

Walker, who is now home with his family in Eastampton, Burlington County, has been suspended without pay by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, officials said. State employment records show Walker has been an officer since 1995.