A Maryland State Police trooper was critically injured early yesterday when his cruiser slid off a road, crashed into a utility pole and landed upside down on the concrete porch of a home in Hampstead, police said.

The accident on Route 30 in Carroll County sent Trooper Kendell L. Clagg, 35, to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. In a statement, police said he suffered "massive facial and brain injuries."

Last night, Clagg was in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Clagg has been with the state police about 18 months, police said.

During a news conference called yesterday to outline a plan to update the state's helicopter fleet, Gov. Martin O'Malley commented on Clagg's accident.

"I ask for your prayers for him and his hope for recovery for a very serious accident," O'Malley said. The governor said Clagg was flown to Shock Trauma by one of the helicopters in the fleet.

The accident occurred about 1:30 a.m., police said, and they do not believe weather contributed to the crash.

Greg Shipley, the state police spokesman, said Clagg might have been responding to a report of a vehicle speeding at more than 100 mph on roads near Hampstead.

Clagg, who was driving south on Route 30, was not dispatched to look for the speeding car, Shipley said. But minutes before the incident, Westminster police had put out a broadcast about the speeding vehicle, which they apparently had been pursuing but lost, he said.

Police said Clagg apparently lost control of his car near Greenmount Church Road.