Around The Region

A 42-year-old Baltimore man was seriously injured yesterday morning at a welding company in Arbutus when the forklift he was operating tipped over, fire and police officials said. Denson Bonilla Suaza was moving steel materials on pallets outside of Winkler's Inc., in the 4300 block of Southwestern Blvd., when the accident occurred at 10:30 a.m. His lower body was pinned beneath the machinery and steel for at least 20 minutes before emergency crews were able to free him, said Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman. He was rushed to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in serious condition with injuries to his legs, Armacost said.

Jennifer McMenamin

Fatal shooting described at Howard murder trial

Though several people testified that they saw Charles Richardson IV shoot Trae Davon Allen in the face during an argument, the Howard County man maintained at the opening of his trial yesterday that he did not commit the killing. Richardson, 25, of Columbia is charged with first-degree murder in the May 2007 shooting of Allen, 19, in the Columbia townhouse where Richardson was living. He has pleaded not guilty. According to prosecutors and witness testimony, Richardson and several friends were gathered at the home when Richardson became angry with Allen. After the conversation became heated, Richardson pulled a gun from his jacket sleeve and shot Allen in the face, prosecutors say. Prosecutors contend that Richardson followed Allen to the kitchen and shot him three more times in the back before leaving. Defense attorney Mark Van Bavel told jurors that his client is a "paradox," calling him a "loyal, regular employee" at Toby's Dinner Theater in Columbia, where he worked on the kitchen staff, but who lived a different life outside of work. Richardson's trial is expected to last four days, said a spokesman for the Howard County state's attorney's office. Richardson is also charged in the murder of a Columbia convenience store clerk in 2006.

Tyeesha Dixon

Parkton man, 49, killed in single-vehicle crash

A Parkton man was killed yesterday morning after he lost control of the pickup truck he was driving on a road in Freeland and crashed into a tree, Baltimore County police said. Police said Roy Carr Brintnall, 49, of the 700 block of Falls Road was driving a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado pickup east in the 21600 block of Middletown Road, west of Flintstone Road, about 9:30 a.m. when he lost control of the vehicle, left the roadway and crashed into a tree. Police said Brintnall, the lone occupant of the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene by county Fire Department medics.

Richard Irwin

Man guilty of supplying teenager with painkillers

A 37-year-old Washington County man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to a single count of illegally supplying prescription painkillers to a Boonsboro high school student who died of an overdose. Robert Carroll Eichelberger of Hagerstown faces a minimum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life behind bars. Eichelberger and his former girlfriend, Kathleen Ann Harris, were charged with distributing methadone that led to the death of Harry L. "Trey" Angle, 17, in July 2007. Harris pleaded guilty this year and agreed to assist federal prosecutors in their case against Eichelberger. According to prosecutors, Eichelberger and Harris had worked together since 2006 to sell the prescription-only medications methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Over the course of six months last year, court records show, Eichelberger and Harris sold drugs to Angle, who used the drugs and sometimes re-sold them to friends and associates. Eichelberger will be sentenced Dec. 4.

Justin Fenton