Baltimore Police Officer

Virginia B. Machovec, a retired city public school cafeteria cashier and longtime hospital volunteer, died Wednesday of pneumonia at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. She was 92. The daughter of a Cross Street Market worker and a homemaker, Virginia Baxter Edwards was born and raised in South Baltimore, where she graduated from Southern High School. In 1947, she married Lawrence J. Machovec Sr., a highly decorated World War II veteran who later became a Baltimore police officer.

A federal grand jury indicted a Baltimore police officer Friday on charges that he was involved in a conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana. In an indictment unsealed Friday, federal prosecutors allege that Kendell L. Richburg, 36, took part in a drug scheme between January 2011 and October 2012. He is further accused of having and using two handguns to further the conspiracy. "Corrupt police officers insult the many honorable officers who serve with integrity," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.

The identity of a 29-year-old man fatally stabbed Jan. 12 outside a liquor store was released Jan. 15. Police said Michael Anthony Price, who lived in the 600 block of McCabe Avenue, was pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Hospital at 12:25 a.m. Jan. 13. A Baltimore police officer had found Price with apparent stab wounds to his torso and arm in the 5400 block of York Road and attempted to revive him until paramedics arrived. Police canvassed the area for a suspect and arrested Lonnie Murrill, 42, of the 500 block of E. 43 r d Street.

Two years to the day after Baltimore police officer William H. Torbit Jr. was shot by fellow members of the department, members of his family staged small demonstrations in front of city buildings and called on officials to take a fresh look at the case. "There was no outside investigation," said Torbit's sister Venus Torbit. "We want the community to have the facts. " Family members held placards with Torbit's picture and gathered in small groups outside City Hall and police headquarters Wednesday.

Three police officers suffered minor injuries in a police chase that started in Northeast Baltimore and ended with a collision in the Carney area of Baltimore County. A police spokesman said the pursuit began after two officers moved to interrupt a "possible drug transaction" in the 5200 block of Belair Road. Two officers suffered "scratches and abrasions" in a collision with the suspect vehicle, and were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center as a precaution. The gray Chevrolet Cobalt fled, leading officers through Northeast and Northern Baltimore, with the passenger-side door of the vehicle bent backward at one point.

An off-duty Baltimore County police officer was shot in Overlea early this morning as he attempted to disperse a large group of people blocking traffic on a residential street, police said. Police said the incident began as the officer was driving near Dale Avenue and Danville Road around 3:20 a.m. There, the officer encountered a large group of people blocking the street, according to police. "He stopped his vehicle and asked them to move so he could pass," police said.  A man emerged from the crowd with a gun and fired several shots into the officer's car, striking him twice, officers said.

Baltimore County police on Wednesday identified the Harford County man charged with shooting a hunter from Pennsylvania who was believed to be trespassing on property in Cockeysville. Richard Heymann, 42, of Hillsdale Court in Abingdon, was charged with first- and second-degree assault in the shooting of Christopher E. Kinne, 43, of Lancaster, Pa. Police said Kinne had trespassed into a wooded area along Stabler's Church Road Tuesday morning, when Heymann, an acquaintance of the property owner, confronted Kinne.

A 39-year-old Baltimore police officer has been suspended amid allegations of sexual misconduct, the city's police commissioner announced Monday.  The officer was identified as Northwestern District patrol officer Elliott Simon, and Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts called the complaint "very serious" and said it has prompted a criminal and internal investigation.  Batts said the officer is alleged to have been on-duty and that the complaint...

A Baltimore City police officer has been suspended after officials were notified by the FBI that he is under investigation, a police spokesman confirmed. The notification came from the same public corruption squad that developed the case against the officers in last year's towing kickback scandal that ensnared more than 30 officers, though there is no indication that the case are related.The officers were suspended or charged after it was discovered they were encouraging motorists to use a select group of towing companies after an investigation began in 2011.

A Baltimore City police detective was charged Thursday with lying in a search warrant affidavit to gain entry to a Canton home, then trying to obstruct an ensuing internal affairs investigation. The raid resulting from the affidavit led to the discovery of guns and suspected drugs, police said at the time, and a 39-year-old man was arrested. But the man's lawyer says an analysis came back negative for drugs, and prosecutors were forced to drop the gun charges after the misconduct allegations arose.