Car Chase

A state trooper narrowly escaped serious injury during an early-morning chase Friday along Route 152 in southern Harford County, and a suspect has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. John Jacob Nussle V, 22, of Joppa also faces assault and malicious destruction charges. Trooper Jon Sawa stopped a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt at 12:01 a.m. in the southbound lane near Stockton Road for erratic driving. When the driver in the Cobalt fled, the trooper pursued for about three miles in his unmarked patrol car. The cars veered into the northbound lane, and the Cobalt rammed the trooper's vehicle at least once, police said.

A state trooper narrowly escaped serious injury during an early-morning chase Friday along Route 152 in southern Harford County, and a suspect has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. John Jacob Nussle V, 22, of Joppa also faces assault and malicious destruction charges. Trooper Jon Sawa stopped a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt at 12:01 a.m. in the southbound lane near Stockton Road for erratic driving. When the driver in the Cobalt fled, the trooper pursued for about three miles in his unmarked patrol car. The cars veered into the northbound lane, and the Cobalt rammed the trooper's vehicle at least once, police said.

An escapee from an Anne Arundel County detention center was arrested yesterday after an altercation with police followed by a car chase, authorities said. About 11:45 a.m., officers were searching for Tracy Edward Belt, 32, of Annapolis at the Days Inn in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway when he spotted them and fled, police said. Officers chased Belt into the parking lot, where he got into a vehicle and tried to strike them, police said. An officer fired at Belt, striking the passenger side of the vehicle he was in. The suspect then led police on a car chase through Glen Burnie before he struck two police vehicles on Route 10 near East Ordnance Road, police said.

Four people are facing armed robbery, assault and theft charges Monday after a Columbia street robbery led to a car chase that ended in a crash on the Baltimore Beltway, Howard County police said. Police were called to the robbery in the 5400 block Green Dory Lane, in Wilde Lake Saturday at 6:50 p.m. after the victim's neighbors saw three men approach a resident outside his home, display a gun, assault and threaten him and flee with his money, cell phone and keys. Police began following a gold Mazda driven by a fourth person as it traveled north on Route 29 and then east on U.S. 40 to the Baltimore Beltway, before crashing on an exit ramp at Hollins Ferry Road.

A car chase in Ellicott City between a Howard County police officer and a teen-ager ended when the stolen car struck another vehicle in Baltimore yesterday, police said.The driver -- a 17-year-old Baltimore boy whose name was not available -- was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore along with the driver of the car his auto struck.Shortly after midnight, an officer using a radar gun saw a 1992 Acura Legend traveling east on U.S. 40 near Oaks Road at 70 mph in a 45 mph zone, police said.

Baltimore County police investigators have cleared the officers involved in a high-speed car chase March 16 that began in Woodlawn and ended with the death of a teen-age passenger when the fleeing car crashed several miles inside the city.Sgt. Stephen R. Doarnberger said the department's investigation began right after the death of Raymond C. Wilson, 16, of the 3200 block of Gulfport Drive.The youth was thrown from the 1989 Ford Escort when it struck a curb in the 5000 block of Edmondson Ave., became airborne and struck several trees -- splitting in half.

Baltimore County police were holding a man and two youths in custody last night after a car chase that started near the Baltimore County-Harford County line and ended in Northeast Baltimore.County police said they got a call about three people acting suspiciously at Ripken's Cycle in the 12200 block of Pulaski Highway about 5 p.m.A short time later, an off-duty detective at the Precision Tune shop at U.S. 40 and Chesaco Avenue noticed the man and two youths using a nearby telephone. The detective, using an unmarked radio car, found that the car the three were using had been reported stolen.

Four Baltimore-area youths were arrested Tuesday after leading police on a high-speed car chase that started when a Bel Air man reported that he surprised the youths as they burglarized his house.The homeowner told police he chased four burglars away from his house but was unable to capture them, the county Sheriff's Department said. Three of the youths fled in a car and later led police on a high-speed chase that ended when their vehicle crashed in Upper Crossroads, the department said.Sean Clark, 20, of Baltimore, and Eugene H. Barksdale, 18, of Cockeysville, each were charged with theft and burglary in the incident.

Two city teen-agers, one 13 and the other 14, were injured last night when the stolen car they were riding in crashed and overturned in Melrose, Carroll County, after leading several police cars on a 20-mile chase that included shots fired by a state trooper.The youths were treated at Carroll County General Hospital pending their being sent to the Charles H. Hickey School in Baltimore County.According to police, an off-duty state trooper noticed five northbound stolen cars running a red light on Reisterstown Road in Baltimore County around 9 p.m. last night.

County police arrested an Annapolis man on assault, auto theft and burglary charges Friday after a car chase from Glen Burnie to his home.Officers said a man had broken into the home of a Glen Burnie woman about 1 a.m., sexually assaulted her and stole her car.The woman told police the man entered her home through a basement window, threatened to kill her several times, cut her hair with scissors and tore her clothes off before stealing her car.Shortly after...

A 59-year-old Pasadena woman admitted Monday to stealing more than $86,000 from the Howard County produce business where she worked as a bookkeeper, police said. Joan Elizabeth Krempa, of the 8400 block of Miramar Road, pleaded guilty to a single count of theft of more than $500 in Howard County Circuit Court. Krempa said she forged the signature of the owner of Parade Produce in Jessup between February and November of 2008; police said she wrote checks amounting to $60,501 and deposited the money in her personal account.

Goodbye, Blackie. Hello, Slurpee. Like the NASCAR speedsters festooned with ads, the Baltimore Police Department's horse unit is going the way of corporate sponsorship. The 7-Eleven chain donated $5,000 to keep the endangered Mounted Unit running, and the check gave the business naming rights. And just like that, the purebred Percheron once known as Blackie is now named after the outlet's frozen beverage concoction. Slurpee joins the other horses of patrol: Butch, Buster, Binks, Barny and Bell.

A Baltimore police officer shot a man just steps from an elementary school yesterday afternoon after a chase that involved a car crash and ended when the man was caught hiding under an inflatable pool, police said. Police said the incident began about 12:40 p.m. when a member of the SWAT team on routine patrol on Westwood Avenue passed a 1993 Chrysler New Yorker and observed a man duck inside the parked car. The officer turned around to conduct a field interview when the driver fled, running red lights and stop signs, and drove into Leakin Park, said Donny Moses, a police spokesman.

Two charged after 11-mile police chase Baltimore police charged two men yesterday with possession of marijuana after they led officers on an 11-mile car chase through the city on Tuesday evening. The pursuit ended at Key Highway and Webster Street in South Baltimore. WBAL-TV broadcast live video from a helicopter, showing police officers, their guns drawn, converging on the car and arresting the driver and a passenger. The driver, Darrell Wilson, 26, of the 2800 block of Ashland Ave., could face additional traffic charges related to the chase, police said.

A city police officer was ordered held on $350,000 bail yesterday after having been charged with speeding through a red light in North Baltimore, leading an officer on a brief chase and having a loaded handgun in the car, according to city prosecutors. Jemini Jones, 29, was out on bail on two separate rape charges and had been suspended from the force in December. He had been stripped of his gun, making it illegal for him to have a weapon, prosecutors said. Police charged Jones with numerous traffic citations, eluding police and handgun violations stemming from his arrest.

After stealing a car in an elementary school parking lot as children were arriving, running the security checkpoint at Aberdeen Proving Ground, colliding with a pickup truck in a busy intersection, and failing to steal another car, Jeremy Justin Lepone thought he could make it on foot, police said. Lepone, a 31-year-old Elkton resident, was arrested after crashing a car he had stolen and attempting to flee on foot, according to police. He faces numerous state and federal charges, said Robert B. Thomas, a spokesman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office.

One's fondness for the big-screen Dukes of Hazzard will depend on how many times one can be gladdened by hearing the exclamation "Yeeeeeee-haaaaaa." That's certainly the dominant line of dialogue in this movie, a multimillion-dollar version of a bargain-basement, down-home comedy that ran on CBS from 1979 to 1985. As the rhymingly named Luke Duke, Johnny Knoxville gets to scream it 47 times, while Willie Nelson as moonshining Uncle Jesse Duke bellows it 19 times and Jessica Simpson as the buxom, short-shorted Daisy Duke squeals it 11 times.

An Odenton man was indicted yesterday on charges that he caused the death of an elderly man when he crashed his truck into three cars while escaping house arrest. An Anne Arundel County grand jury charged Michael T. Spears, 37, who has a lengthy criminal record, with manslaughter and 10 related counts stemming from the June 25 wreck near Crofton. Burkman Gatton Sr., 92, of Crofton was paralyzed from the accident and died of resulting pneumonia in October, said State's Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee.