Worcester County prosecutors have filed traffic charges against a Berlin man in connection with a hit-and-run crash last year that killed 14-year-old Gavin Knupp.
The 17 charges filed Friday against the 22-year-old man accuse him of leaving the scene and failing to render aid July 11 after striking Knupp, a resident of Ocean Pines.
Maryland State Police said after the crash that Knupp was crossing Grays Corner Road in Berlin, a town close to Ocean City, at about 10:45 p.m. to return to a vehicle when he was struck by another vehicle, which fled the scene and did not return. Knupp died at Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin.
Months passed with no charges being filed, despite a promising development when, six days after the crash, investigators found the 2011 Mercedes believed to have been involved.
The fatal crash sparked a movement in the Eastern Shore, with local businesses posting “Do it for Gavin” signs and hashtags demanding “Justice for Gavin” spreading statewide.
The death of Knupp, a young outdoors enthusiast who enjoyed hunting, fishing, surfing and skateboarding, led to the creation of the Gavin Knupp Foundation, a nonprofit organization aiming to honor the boy and aid local youth through scholarships, sponsorships and fundraising for a local surf club.
Timonium-based lawyer Neil Dubovsky, who is representing Knupp’s family, said in a statement that the charges are an “important step” in the direction of accountability for the teen’s death but “just a step in that direction.”
“Let there be no confusion — we will not rest until that process is completed, both through this criminal prosecution in addition to pursuing any and all available civil remedies,” Dubovsky said in the statement.
The 22-year-old charged in the crash is scheduled to appear in Worcester County Circuit Court on May 31. He did not have an attorney listed in court records.
![A subsidiary of a Belgian-based company plans to build a plant in Baltimore’s Wagner’s Point to manufacture cables used in the offshore wind and power grid industries. Hellenic Cables Americas, a subsidiary of Cenergy Holdings, acquired a 39-acre waterfront parcel for the factory along the Patapsco River. In a $200 million first phase, which includes land acquisition costs, the company plans by the end of the year to start building a land cables plant to serve a growing need for transmission and distribution power grid upgrades. It plans to add manufacturing of sub-sea cables in a second phase. The plant […]](https://www.baltimoresun.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2021/11/19/HRVQFMOAGSDYQNUJDNXA27YVOU.jpg?w=535 "A subsidiary of a Belgian-based company plans to build a plant in Baltimore’s Wagner’s Point to manufacture cables used in the offshore wind and power grid industries. Hellenic Cables Americas, a subsidiary of Cenergy Holdings, acquired a 39-acre waterfront parcel for the factory along the Patapsco River. In a $200 million first phase, which includes land acquisition costs, the company plans by the end of the year to start building a land cables plant to serve a growing need for transmission and distribution power grid upgrades. It plans to add manufacturing of sub-sea cables in a second phase. The plant […]")
