City Police

A suspect in a drug investigation led police on a car chase Monday night from Baltimore City, into Baltimore County and back into the city, ending in the arrest of the driver. City police say detectives tried to stop the burgundy sport utility vehicle in the 500 block of Alluvion Street about 9:30 p.m. The driver did not stop and fled into Baltimore County, at which point county police and Maryland State Police also got involved to try to stop the car. The SUV ultimately came back into the city and police were able to stop the driver on northbound Interstate 83 before the Ruxton Road exit.

A man barricaded himself in a Northeast Baltimore apartment building Friday night after confronting a police officer there with what authorities described as a makeshift blowtorch, city police said. Around 11 p.m., police said they had taken a man into custody. City police were called to an apartment building housing elderly residents in the 6400 block Loch Raven Boulevard about 8:30 p.m. for a report of breaking and entering, according to city police spokespeople. The officer encountered a man in the lobby carrying a blowtorch, police say. The suspect directed a flame at the officer, who returned fire with his weapon, police say, and then the suspect ran into the building, barricading himself on an upper floor.

City police have charged two women - one who was released from jail recently after prosecutors dropped armed carjacking charges against her - in connection at least four knife-point robberies in the Federal Hill area, a spokesman said.  Officers received a report of a robbery Thursday night at about 7 p.m. in the 900 block of Harden Pl. and a description of the suspects was broadcast to officers. They found the two suspects walking in the 1100 block of Hanover St., said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman.  Police arrested Sharticia Bryant, 21, and Keaira Vanzandt, 19, and have charged them in the Thursday robbery.

With Baltimore City Police Lt. Col. Melvin Russell's appointment to a new unit dealing with former inmates, I hope he does more than pay lip service to this extremely important aspect of crime prevention ("Police turn to faith for help," Jan. 5). As a former federal inmate I found it impossible to get a job while being honest about my past. Even after using all the organizations and government agencies that offer help, I still couldn't secure even a menial job. I quickly realized I had two options: Either lie on the applications, or start my own business.

A 63-year-old man was found dead outside the Golden Sands Condominium building in Ocean City on Thursday morning, according to police. The body of the man, whom police have not identified publicly, was found after officers responded to the 10900 block of Coastal Highway for a report of a fall from the 22-story building, Ocean City police said. The body has been taken to the chief medical examiner's office for an autopsy, police said. An investigation is ongoing, they said.

A 23-year-old man suffered serious injuries when he was stabbed at a Timonium hotel following a New Year's Eve party, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman said. County police were called at 2:47 a.m. Tuesday to Crowne Plaza Hotel on Greenspring Drive, where witnesses told the responding officers that a person had been injured but had left the hotel in a vehicle, said police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathy Batton. About half an hour later, she said city police reported that the man who had been stabbed at the hotel was being treated at a city hospital.

Two men were shot on New Year's Day in Baltimore in the city's first reported gun violence of 2013, police said. A 31-year-old man was shot multiple times in the limbs about 4 p.m. Tuesday near the 1100 block of Druid Hill Avenue in the Upton neighborhood, according to police. Responding to that location, police found the victim lying wounded on the sidewalk at the intersection of Division and Dolphin Streets. Police learned he had been shot by a man wearing a black ski mask before the victim ran to the intersection of Division and Dolphin streets.

Thousands of people streamed into Baltimore's Inner Harbor on New Year's Eve night to welcome 2013 with a bang of fireworks expected at midnight — a tradition for some and a new experience for others — as police scanned the crowds for threats. Steve and Lori Foster, along with their twin 12-year-old sons, Luke and Dylan, traveled from Newark, Del., for their first New Year's Eve in the city. "Somebody told us they have a really nice event down here, so we decided to come check it out," Steve said.

Baltimore police have enlisted state troopers to help with patrols as the city confronts a spike in crime, a move that puts to an end years of disagreement between the two agencies over the state force's role in local law enforcement. With the Maryland State Police now led by a former Baltimore police commander, the agencies began talking about the new arrangement over the summer, and new Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts has pushed it forward as part of his plans to get more officers on foot deployments.

A 25-year-old man city police believe fatally stabbed his girlfriend Thursday died hours later after hanging himself in Catonsville. Brandon Jerome Nowlin, whose last known address was in Halethorpe, killed Rebecca Ann Coughenour, 23, of Baltimore, inside her home Thursday, police said. Police categorized the killing as an act of domestic violence. Nowlin and Coughenour had been in a relationship for several years, officers said. Police said the couple had a "prior history of domestic violence.