Carjacking

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore and Baltimore County. Baltimore Eastern Carjacking -- A 1997 Buick Skylark that was taken by two men in a carjacking in the 2000 block of N. Wolfe St. near Sinclair Lane on Thursday night was recovered Friday, but no arrests had been made. During an argument with two men about 10 p.m., a man was sprayed with a chemical irritant before he was robbed of his car. The car was found in the 5400 block of The Alameda in Northeast Baltimore and taken to police headquarters for processing.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.Baltimore CityNorthwestern DistrictCutting: Bernard Strange, 26, of the 3100 block of Milford Ave., was in critical condition yesterday at Sinai Hospital after a man attacked him in the 3600 block of Gwynn Oak Ave. near Liberty Heights Avenue about 9 p.m. Wednesday, slashing the right side of his neck with a broken beer bottle. Strange fled to a nearby Amoco service station, where a motorist getting gas tried to stop the bleeding.

A Baltimore police officer fired three shots at a stolen car yesterday after the driver tried to run him down, police said.A 13-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder and armed carjacking in the incident, said Sgt. Scott Rowe, a police spokesman.Rowe said a 66-year-old woman was about to enter her 1993 Toyota Camry about 3: 30 p.m. in the 6700 block of Park Heights Ave. when a youth shoved her aside, grabbed the keys and drove away. The woman was not injured, Rowe said.A few minutes later, Rowe said, Officer Francis Davidson of the Northwestern District was in a patrol car in the 4300 block of Liberty Heights Ave. when he saw the Toyota heading toward him from the 3500 block of Eldorado Ave.Rowe said Davidson blocked the intersection with his vehicle and stood near it. He said Davidson ordered the Toyota to stop.

CAMBRIDGE -- At first, the young father told police that the carjacking horror began on the bridge that spans the Choptank River.But after 13 hours of police interrogation, according to charging documents, Richard Wayne Spicknall II confessed that he had shot his 2-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter while they were strapped in safety seats in their grandmother's automobile.The 27-year-old Laurel man was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his son, Richard III, and the attempted murder of his daughter, Destiny Array Spicknall.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.Baltimore CityNorthwestern DistrictCutting: Bernard Strange, 26, of the 3100 block of Milford Ave., was in critical condition yesterday at Sinai Hospital after a man attacked him in the 3600 block of Gwynn Oak Ave. near Liberty Heights Avenue about 9 p.m. Wednesday, slashing the right side of his neck with a broken beer bottle. Strange fled to a nearby Amoco service station, where a motorist getting gas tried to stop the bleeding.

A group of men and a woman went on a 5 1/2-hour crime spree described by Baltimore police as "random and reckless" that ended early yesterday with one person dead, four others carjacked and 12 people held up at gunpoint.Police took five suspects -- four men and a woman -- into custody at a $55-a-night Pikesville motel room after a Baltimore County police officer found two stolen cars parked outside. Detectives said they found two 9mm handguns in the room.Also in the room were two teen-age boys who, according to Baltimore Police Detective Irvin Bradley, face only narcotics charges.

Yesterday, for the second time in five years, Robert Lane pleaded guilty to carjacking. This time, federal officials made sure he will spend the rest of his life in prison instead of the 2 1/2 years he spent incarcerated on the state's watch.In U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Lane admitted to four carjackings, including the one in which 86-year-old Ernest Hildebrandt of Bolton Hill was bludgeoned to death for his 17-year-old Chevrolet Citation. The killing stunned the community last year for its brutality.

A 33-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced yesterday in federal court to life in prison for the bludgeoning death of an elderly Bolton Hill man during a 1998 carjacking -- a crime that stunned the mid-town community.The jail term imposed on Robert Lane in U.S. District Court -- which under the federal system carries no possibility of parole -- was part of a plea bargain reached in July, in which Lane agreed to accept the sentence and prosecutors agreed to drop efforts to seek the death penalty in the case.

A car driven by a suspected carjacker crashed into a taxicab yesterday in Northeast Baltimore, critically injuring a passenger in the cab. The driver escaped on foot, police said.Police said the incident began when a 19-year-old Woodlawn man, driving a 1996 Toyota, pulled onto the lot of an Amoco service station in the 2000 block of N. Forest Park Ave. in West Baltimore about 4 a.m. to use a pay phone. He was confronted by two young men, one with a handgun, who ordered him from the vehicle, robbed him of a pager, about $150, his left Nike athletic shoe and drove off, police said.

A Baltimore handyman was arrested yesterday on armed carjacking, cocaine possession and related charges after allegedly forcing a man at knifepoint from a truck in Finksburg, court documents showed.Police said Charles Stair called 911 from Bird View Road early yesterday. He told police a passenger asked to borrow his truck. When Stair refused, the man tried to kick him out of the moving vehicle along Route 91. Stair said the man threatened to cut his throat and lunged at him with a knife to intimidate him into turning over the vehicle.

State police have made a third arrest in the carjacking of a Harford County woman this week. Lamont Harrison Jr., 19, was arrested Wednesday near his home on Melwood Court in Edgewood and charged with carjacking, armed robbery, assault, kidnapping and theft. His $1 million bond was revoked Thursday, and he remains in the Harford County Detention Center. Joshua Prince Freeman, 19, of Edgewood and Roberta Antonaccio, 17, of Joppa face the same felony charges in connection with the incident, which began late Monday in Edgewood.

Sexual misconduct trial of alderman postponed The sexual misconduct trial of an Annapolis alderman and former mayoral candidate has been delayed from December until next year because of scheduling conflicts. The date was chosen Wednesday during a brief hearing with the lawyers and the Anne Arundel County judge who will preside over the trial. A two-day jury trial starting Feb. 23 is planned. Samuel E. Shropshire, 61, did not attend the hearing because of a death in his family, his lawyers said.

Over the protests of his mother, a 29-year-old Essex man was sentenced Wednesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court to 20 years in prison for a 2008 carjacking in which he almost made off with a 7-year-old boy who was sitting in the vehicle. Thomas J. Frazier was given an additional five years behind bars for burglarizing his mother's house, a crime unrelated to the carjacking but which was consolidated with it for sentencing purposes. "It was traumatic for the little boy," prosecutor Rachel Karceski said after the hearing, referring to the ordeal he suffered at Frazier's hands Oct. 16 in White Marsh.

A 21-year-old Columbia man who took part in an armed robbery and a carjacking in June 2008 was sentenced Tuesday in Howard County Circuit Court to 25 years in jail for one incident and faces up to 10 years for the other. Judge Louis A. Becker sentenced Chaz Bazzle to 25 years in connection with the carjacking and is sending him to the Patuxent Institute so he can receive mental health treatment. On June 29, 2008, Bazzle and another man robbed three people in the parking lot of a Columbia apartment complex about 3 a.m., taking $50 in cash from one victim and cell phones from the other two, according to court documents.

Police reports in Baltimore city and county: Central Baltimore Bank robbery: Police and the FBI were seeking a man who robbed the Sun Trust Bank in the 1200 block of N. Charles St. about 10:30 a.m. Monday of an undisclosed sum after giving a teller a holdup note. Anyone with information is asked to call the district at 410-396-2411 or the FBI at 410-265-8080. Stolen vehicle: A silver-colored Honda with tags 8BJ R82 was stolen Monday in the 1900 block of Maryland Ave. Burglary: Copper wire, a shop vacuum, tools, extension cords and an uninstalled security system were stolen between Friday and Monday from a house in the 1400 block of Druid Hill Ave. by someone who entered through a rear door.

The murder and carjacking convictions against Leeander Jerome Blake, who helped steal a Jeep Cherokee from an Annapolis man killed during the crime, will stand, a federal appeals court ruled last week. Blake, who was 17 at the time of the 2002 carjacking, avoided prosecution at the state level by successfully arguing that police illegally interrogated him. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on the state's appeal, federal prosecutors took up the case, indicting Blake in 2006 on murder, carjacking and gun charges.

A 21-year-old Northeast Baltimore man recently cleared on murder charges was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison for an armed carjacking in 2006. Prosecutors said that Dean Carter and a female companion requested a ride from the victim Nov. 2, 2006, and then produced a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle, demanding that the victim get out of the car. Carter was arrested the next day after being seen driving the stolen vehicle. The rifle was still on the floor. Prosecutor Kevin Wiggins told Baltimore Circuit Judge W. Michel Pierson that police were able to make an arrest after the victim identified his attacker.

Man, 50, is wounded in Howard St. shooting A 50-year-old man was in critical condition yesterday evening after being shot early yesterday in the 600 block of N. Howard St., Baltimore police said. At about 1 a.m., an officer responded to the scene, near West Centre Street, and found a man lying on the ground with gunshot wounds to his neck and stomach, according to police. Authorities said the victim and a male friend were walking when the victim stopped to engage a male on a bicycle in conversation, while the companion continued walking.

Man killed, woman hurt in Annapolis shooting A 34-year-old man was shot to death early yesterday in Annapolis, and a woman, 24, found in a car with him suffered gunshot wounds, police said. After receiving reports of shots fired about 12:30 a.m. in the area of Janwall Street and Tyler Avenue, police found the man and woman in a 2002 Cadillac. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Police did not release their names, saying they had made only "tentative" identifications.

The prosecution of a man charged with killing an off-duty Baltimore police officer suffered a setback yesterday when a judge ruled that jurors could not hear evidence linking the defendant to a carjacking days before the homicide. Brandon Grimes goes on trial today for the fatal shooting of Detective Troy Lamont Chesley Sr. During a motions hearing yesterday, Circuit Judge Timothy Doory ruled that prosecutors will not be allowed to present evidence of the carjacking for fear it would prejudice the jury.