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On Jan. 12, 2026, units from Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the southbound lane of I-95 for a reported commercial vehicle crash, according to the Maryland State Police.
Reported just after 5:30 a.m., the response required many personnel from Howard County and allying agencies to respond, including Maryland State Police Aviation Command and the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center Go Team.
“The details from the scene were obvious from the air,” Go Team Medical Director Dr. Rishi Kundi said. “A large garbage truck had plowed directly into the back of a tractor-trailer.”
This incident was the first response for Maryland’s Go Team for 2026, according to Kundi.
Maryland State Police released that one person was killed and two passengers in the truck were transported by medevac to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center on the campus of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
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“I did not anticipate the sheer number of personnel involved in this rescue,” Kundi said.
Kundi added that the medical aspect of the rescue was being managed on scene by Howard County Fire and Rescue Services’ Chief Medical Officer Dr. Matthew Levy.
Kundi reported his team assisted with applying a junctional tourniquet used as a pelvic binder. The two patients were triaged and Kundi and his partner, a certified nurse anesthetist, transported one patient by medevac, while an aviation command medevac flew the second patient.
“HCDFRS works extensively with partner agencies, including the Maryland State Police and the Shock Trauma Go Team, to ensure a high level of training readiness and preparedness for complex incidents such as this one. Central to this approach is the philosophy of medically directed rescue for the entrapped patient,” Levy said.
“This response exemplified that philosophy, with advanced resuscitative care — including prehospital blood transfusions while still entrapped. Close coordination between the HCDRFS on-scene medical director and Go Team clinicians, coupled with tight integration among rescue personnel and flight crews, enabled seamless care coordination and an efficient handoff from the scene to definitive care,” Levy said.
“The Go Team blurs the line between the prehospital phase of care and the hospital phase of care. My goal is for the team to do almost everything for the patient on scene that they would receive within the first 20-25 minutes of care at the Shock Trauma Center,” Kundi said.
Aviation command launch
This incident was unique in that three aircraft from Maryland State Police’s Aviation Command were dispatched, according to a spokesperson from MSP’s Media Communications office.
“Dispatching three MSPAC aircrafts to one scene is rare and generally occurs only during major or high-profile incidents, such as active shooter events, mass-causality incidents, multi-vehicle crashes involving more than four trauma patients or situations in which the Shock Trauma Go Team is requested,” the spokesperson said. “Responses involving two MSPAC aircrafts and an additional helicopter from another agency, such as the U.S. Park Police or a private provider occur several times each year, often in remote areas of Maryland.”
The Systems Communications, or SYSCOM conducts call intake while the Maryland State Police Aviation Command Operations Control Center duty officer monitors the call and simultaneously assigns the appropriate medevac section, the spokesperson said.
The duty officer provides preliminary information to the flight crew, including incident location, number of patients, patient priority or condition and ground contact information.
“From assignment to lift-off, launch times are typically 10-minutes or less,” the spokesperson said. “Any additional information or updated information is relayed by the duty officer over the radio to the aircrew.”
On the morning of Jan. 12, Trooper 2 (Washington Section, Joint Base Andrews) launched in 7 minutes and had a 9-minute flight time, arriving 16 minutes after dispatch.Trooper 3 (Frederick) launched in 10 minutes and had a 14-minute flight time, arriving 24 minutes after dispatch. Trooper 1 (Martin State Airport) was dispatched to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center to pick up the Go Team.
Trooper 1 spent several additional minutes on the helipad at Shock Trauma waiting for additional blood products that were requested from the scene. The flight time from the trauma center to the scene was 5 minutes.
From dispatch until arrival on scene with the Go Team was 30-minutes, according to the spokesperson.
“This timeline was extended due to the transport of additional blood products — Trooper 1 alone carried 10 units of blood, with a total of 14 units delivered to the scene by all three MSP helicopters,” the aviation command spokesperson said.
Once the patients were packaged and transport began from the scene in Howard County, it was a 5-minute flight time back to the Shock Trauma Center.
“Maryland’s EMS and helicopter medevac system is one of the finest in the nation and truly serves as a model for others to follow,” Maj. Michael Tagliaferri, commander of the Maryland State Police Aviation Command said. “The strength of our system lies in the seamless integration of EMS, fire, medevac and trauma care. From the moment a call is received to the patient’s arrival at a trauma center, every agency works as one with a shared goal – getting the right patient to the right place at the right time.”
Based at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, the GO-TEAM is breaking barriers between prehospital and hospital care
Activating the Go Team
“I would ask EMS (clinicians) considering activating the team to ask yourself — would I benefit from having a physician and nurse anesthetist? Would it be useful for a surgeon to come here, now, rather than waiting to get them to Shock Trauma?” Kundi said.“If we are activated and don’t do any procedures, we will never be angry or upset.”
Kundi added there have been plenty of deployments, where the only useful thing he and his team did was help move the patient.
This crash in Howard County is a very good example of the Go Team arriving and not taking over the scene.
“We fell in line with the chain of command. We are there to help,” Kundi said. “We bring unique capabilities and we just want to be useful. If it crosses your mind, activate the team.”
