Montgomery County police detected a strong odor of alcohol on the 22-year-old man accused of plowing into a scooter on Rockville Pike and killing the driver, prosecutors said in court Friday.

Hours later he was released from the Montgomery County Detention Center after Montgomery County District Court Judge Stephen P. Johnson reduced his $1 million bail to $15,000.

Michael Charles Dalton Jr.’s attorney told the judge that his client would enroll in substance abuse program or counseling that is needed before trial.

Dalton, who lives at the 10200 block of Baltimore Avenue, College Park, was arrested Thursday and charged with three crimes: failure to immediately stop at the scene of an accident involving death, failure to immediately return and remain at the scene of an accident involving death and failure of a driver in an accident to report a death to the nearest police.

During a bond review hearing Friday afternoon, Montgomery County Assistant State's Attorney Christina Rodriguez revealed more details about the crash, which closed Rockville Pike for more than six hours overnight on Thursday.

Rodriguez said Roberto Nassar, 30, of the unit block of South Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, was accelerating his scooter after he stopped at a red light on northbound Md. 355 at Edmonston Road when a Buick LeSabre struck his vehicle from behind around 1:26 a.m.

A short time later, a police officer on routine patrol saw the LeSabre with sparks flying from the front of the car, the scooter still embedded under the front fender and a broken windshield. He and another patrol car activated their lights and tried to pull Dalton to the side of the road, but he made a U-turn and tried to elude them, Rodriguez said.

After officers boxed the car in and got out of their patrol cars, Dalton's car started moving toward one of the officers, and the officer pulled his gun, Rodriguez said.

Dalton’s attorney, Rockville-based Reginald W. Bours III, said that both airbags in the car deployed during the crash, which could have caused his client to become disoriented.

Police said they detected a strong odor of alcohol at the scene of the accident and ordered Dalton to undergo a field sobriety test, which officers felt he did not pass, Rodriguez said. Dalton refused to take a breathalyzer test, Rodriguez said.

She argued against the bond reduction given the nature of the charges and Dalton’s potential for flight if more charges are filed. Police are investigating the incident and a blood test is being analyzed to determine whether drugs and alcohol were a factor in the crash.

Further charges are being considered by the county state’s attorney’s office, Capt. Thomas Didone, who commands the police department’s Traffic Division, told The Gazette on Thursday.

Bours called the incident a “horrible tragedy.”

He promised the judge that Dalton’s parents would enroll their son in any substance abuse treatment or counseling that is needed before the trial, which has been set for Nov. 21.

Bours said Dalton had lived his whole life in Perkasie, Pa. until moving to College Park on July 12 to start a job with Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, where he makes more than $60,000 a year.

“He doesn’t want to lose that job,” Bours said.

Dalton had never been to Rockville before Thursday night, Bours said.

Dalton’s parents said their son was held in high regard throughout their 8,511-person community, where he earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Dalton appeared at the hearing through closed-circuit television at the detention center and not speak, but wept and wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his jail-issued shirt when his mother addressed the judge.

“This is a tragic accident,” his mother told the judge.

A trial date has been set for Nov. 21 in Rockville.

dgaines@gazette.net