City / County Digest

Baltimore

North side

Three officers hurt in collision with car

Three city police officers responding to a fellow officer's call for assistance and the driver of a Chevrolet compact car were injured yesterday when their vehicles collided near the former site of Memorial Stadium, police said.

The officers were taken by city Fire Department ambulances to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, were they were treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, said Major Dennis Smith, deputy commander of the Northern District.

Smith said the marked police car containing three Northern District officers was heading south on northbound-only Old York Road to assist another officer chasing a man suspected of robbing a Waverly drugstore about 4:40 p.m.

He said the cruiser's lights and sirens were on when it entered the controlled intersection at 39th Street and collided with a white Chevrolet compact car occupied by a man and a woman.

Smith said the impact caused the front and side air bags in each vehicle to deploy, preventing more serious injuries.

He said the police car was totaled and remained in the middle of the intersection, while the severely damaged Chevrolet came to a stop on the southwest corner of 39th Street and Old York Road.

Medics arrived shortly after the collision and gave first aid to the injured before the officers were taken to Shock Trauma.

Smith identified the officers as Eric Hinson, the driver, and John Hanyok and Ramon Guzman, the two passengers. Hanyok was expected to be released, while Hinson and Guzman were expected to be held for tests and observation of unspecified injuries.

Hinson was giving the other officers a ride to pick up two spare vehicles when the robbery call occurred, said Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman.

Smith said the male driver of the Chevrolet was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital and was expected to be released. He said a female occupant of the car was treated at the scene and driven home by a police officer. Their names were not released.

Smith said that shortly after the crash, police arrested the robbery suspect.

Richard Irwin

Downtown

Prisoner escapes on way to court

Maryland State Police and local authorities were searching yesterday for a man who escaped from a state corrections officer on his way to court in downtown Baltimore, according to state prison officials.