Baltimore Police Officer

The wife of an unarmed man shot and killed Friday by a Baltimore police officer who apparently mistook a cellular phone for a gun is "outraged," according to the man's lawyer.Mardio House -- who turned 27 Friday -- was shot three times in the stomach at 11 a.m. after leading a Baltimore police officer and federal Drug Enforcement Administration officer on a foot chase in East Baltimore."There's a large level of shock, outrage, anger, confusion," said Harry McKnett, House's attorney.He said House's wife, Marletta, has asked him about representing her in possible legal action against the city.

The lawyer representing Barry W. Hamilton, the Baltimore policeman who shot a 21-year-old man in the back of the head last week, said yesterday the investigation into the incident has become a politically motivated mockery and vowed his client will be vindicated.Henry Belsky, the lawyer for the Fraternal Order of Police who is representing Hamilton, said the sheer number of inquiries is unprecedented and threatens his client's ability to get a fair and impartial investigation."It's crazy.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.Baltimore CityCentral DistrictBurglary/arrest: A man was arrested Sunday in the 1800 block of St. Paul St. shortly after he entered a house on the block and stole a vacuum cleaner valued at more than $100. Residents gave police a description of the man, who they saw leave the dwelling, carrying the property.Theft: After arriving at her destination in the 1400 block of McCulloh St. about 10 p.m. Sunday, a passenger gave a Royal Cab driver a $20 bill to pay for the $2 trip.

The Justice Department will investigate the death of 21-year-old Larry Hubbard, who was shot in the back of the head Thursday by a Baltimore police officer during an arrest attempt.The decision came on a day when several organizations and politicians weighed in on what some view as a racially tinged shooting that has enraged an East Baltimore community and caused city leaders to appeal for calm.Yesterday, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume called for a federal probe of Hubbard's death and said the Baltimore-based civil rights group would conduct its own investigation.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer shot a 22-year-old man accused of attempting to rob a shoe store yesterday on Pennsylvania Avenue, authorities said.Darrin Johnson, of the 1000 block of McCulloh St., was in stable condition late yesterday at the University of Maryland Hospital after being shot in the upper torso, police said.The incident began about 10: 20 a.m. when a man entered Downtown Locker Room, an athletic clothing store at 1829 Pennsylvania Ave., saying he was going to rob the store and demanding money from a clerk, according to police spokesman Sgt. Scott Rowe.

A Maryland section article Monday incorrectly spelled the name of a Baltimore police officer whose disciplinary hearing was postponed. Also, the article said Sgt. Louis H. Hopson was convicted in the early 1980s of hitting his wife. In fact, he was convicted of assaulting a former girlfriend.The Sun regrets the errors.Hearings to determine whether three Baltimore police sergeants convicted of domestic violence should be fired have been postponed because of a complaint by one of the men that he was unfairly targeted.

A Baltimore police officer with a troubled past has been fired, and another city officer has been recommended for termination for allegedly beating his wife three years ago in Harford County, department officials said yesterday.Christine P. Boyd, who patrolled North Baltimore, was found guilty by a three-member administrative hearing board of lying to officers who were investigating a complaint that she threatened a civilian.The panel found Boyd not guilty of swearing and threatening to beat up her Montpelier Street neighbor on May 7, 1996.

Prosecutors thought they had a slam-dunk bribery case against Baltimore police Officer Catherine D. Miele. Her husband turned her in, claiming she sold secret police information. Two of Miele's former friends agreed to take the witness stand against her.But prosecutors committed an irreversible blunder.They botched the wording of Miele's bribery indictment, and waited too long to file a misconduct charge, prompting a judge to dismiss the case Monday. The rulings set Miele free, prohibiting prosecutors from trying her again for allegedly profitting from her public position.

A Baltimore police officer was killed and his partner was seriously injured yesterday when their helicopter crashed at the B&O Railroad Museum after nearly clipping the dome of the historic roundhouse while searching for a stolen car.The pilot, Barry W. Wood, 50, is the second city officer to die in five days. The crash occurred as the funeral for Harold J. Carey ended, sending officers dressed for a burial racing from a cemetery to the wreckage on West Pratt Street."The Baltimore Police Department is in shock and disbelief," Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier said last night.

A Maryland section article Monday incorrectly spelled the name of a Baltimore police officer whose disciplinary hearing was postponed. Also, the article said Sgt. Louis H. Hopson was convicted in the early 1980s of hitting his wife. In fact, he was convicted of assaulting a former girlfriend.The Sun regrets the errors.Hearings to determine whether three Baltimore police sergeants convicted of domestic violence should be fired have been postponed because of a complaint by one of the men that he was unfairly targeted.

Police identify woman found stabbed near park Baltimore police have identified a woman who was found fatally stabbed early Friday near Clifton Park, and a department spokesman said investigators were questioning "persons of interest" in the case. According to police, Shantel Brown, 31, was found with several stab wounds about 1:15 a.m. near Sinclair Lane and North Chester Street, less than a block from her home. She was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A witness reported hearing Brown arguing with the father of her children between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Thursday, said Agent Donny Moses, the police spokesman.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer was shot Thursday night in the abdomen outside his Northwest Baltimore home in the Glen neighborhood in what appeared to be an attempted robbery by two young males, during which gunshots were exchanged. His name and assignment were not released. Police said a teenage boy walked into the emergency room at Sinai Hospital bleeding from a bullet wound to a leg shortly after the officer was shot about 10 p.m. outside his home in the 6000 block of Highgate Drive and told police he was shot at Park Heights and Spaulding avenues, many blocks from where the office was shot.

A Baltimore police officer who had just ended his shift shot one of three men who tried to rob him at gunpoint at a bus stop one block from the Southern District police station early Thursday, a department spokesman said. The 33-year-old officer, who has been on the force since October 2004 and is assigned to the Southern District, was off duty and standing at the stop in the 200 block of Cherry Hill Road shortly after midnight when three men - one armed with a handgun - tried to rob him, spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

Eugene J. "Gino" Wysocki, a retired Baltimore police officer who patrolled the harbor and spent his free time playing the trombone at East Baltimore social events, died of cancer Monday at Franklin Square Hospital Center. The Dundalk resident was 77. Born in Baltimore and raised on Bank Street, he studied music with his father, who was organist at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Fells Point. Mr. Wysocki also attended its parochial school and the old W.S. Seipp General Vocational School on Broadway.

Man arrested, charged with second-degree murder A 31-year-old Baltimore man has been arrested in the May 5 killing of Yamar A. Martin in Aberdeen. The Maryland State Police Apprehension Team took Donald D. Brown Jr. into custody Friday afternoon in Essex and turned him over to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. Brown was being held Saturday night at the Harford County Detention Center in lieu of $500,000 bail. He is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin in the area of Perrywood Drive and Perrywood Court.

Tommy Sanders III was born in Baltimore and grew up in Park Heights, near Virginia Avenue, "a high drug- infested area." He had friends "who sold and who indulged in drugs" and, he said, he was rousted by city cops for no reason. It is an often-told tale of inner-city life. But while some of his friends grew up and went to prison, Tommy Sanders grew up and became a Baltimore police officer. Then the biases he had against cops were turned on him. "I have had more people disgusted with police than people who liked me," Sanders said.

Detective cleared in fatal shooting 4 A Baltimore police officer, who has drawn scrutiny for shooting three people in the past 21 months, has been cleared in his most recent shooting, police said. The fatal shooting of Shawn Cannady, 30, on March 6 prompted two state delegates and the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to call for a federal investigation, saying they were troubled that Detective Jemell Rayam had been involved in three shootings since June 2007.

Calling an uptick in police shootings troubling, two state delegates and the head of the local NAACP called on the federal government yesterday to investigate a recent fatal shooting by a Baltimore police officer who has shot three people since June 2007. Dels. Jill Carter and Curtis S. Anderson and Marvin L. "Doc" Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, did not raise specific concerns about Friday's shooting in Northwest Baltimore, in which 30-year-old Shawn Cannady later died.

Members of Baltimore's General Assembly delegation and the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are calling for an independent investigation into a recent fatal shooting by a Baltimore police officer, saying his three shootings since June 2007 are cause for alarm. Shawn Cannady, 30, who had a history of drug arrests and convictions, was shot and killed by police in Northwest Baltimore last Friday after, police say, he drove at and struck an officer with his vehicle.

A man charged with killing an off-duty Baltimore police officer was found not guilty yesterday of unrelated handgun counts. Brandon Grimes, 23, was accused of running from two police officers who had pulled him over on suspicion of speeding near his home in the 800 block of Caton Ave. Police said that as they chased him into his backyard, Grimes threw a .22-calber handgun over a fence. The jury found Grimes not guilty of all charges stemming from the April 13, 2006, incident, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.