A 19-year-old Columbia man who menaced a mechanic with a hand grenade led police on a chase from Parkton through Baltimore and into Anne Arundel County yesterday morning, police said. The pursuit ended in Riviera Beach with a car crash, a helicopter pursuit and a canine search -- but no injury or explosion.
The three-hour incident began when a car broke down shortly before midnight on Interstate 83 near Parkton, said Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey.
A wrecker towed the driver's 1997 Oldsmobile Bravada to the Parkton Exxon in the 19000 block of York Road, Toohey said. Once there, according to a Baltimore County police report, the man walked to a car belonging to Andrew Kohne, a mechanic at the station.
Kohne's 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis was running with the driver's door open while Kohne worked on the sound system in the trunk. The man got into the car and Kohne told him to get out, police said.
The man "produced a hand grenade and threatened to pull the pin," a report said, and drove off toward Interstate 83 on York Road, eventually getting on I-83 southbound.
Baltimore County police began pursuing the stolen Mercury, and city police joined the pursuit, Toohey said. But the man didn't stop, and the officers eventually gave up the chase.
The driver continued into Anne Arundel County. Just after 2 a.m., Officer Ervin Lemaster pulled the car over and asked for identification, but the driver drove off, police said. Lemaster followed him into Riviera Beach, where the Mercury left the roadway near Main and Atlanta avenues.
The driver drove around Riviera Beach until he ran into a sapling at Park and Hall roads, police said. He got out of the car and ran, police said.
After a 30-minute search, police said, the man was found in a boat in the 100 block of Carroll Road.
Frederick A. H. Peoples, of the 6000 block of Laurel Wreath Way, was arrested and charged with armed carjacking, using a deadly weapon with intent to injure, felony theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and several counts of assault and traffic violations. He was being held in the Anne Arundel County Detention Center on $150,000 bail, police said.
Pub Date: 2/26/98
