Head Injury

A 23-year-old Glen Burnie man is dead after he fell and hit his head during an altercation with a fellow partygoer Saturday morning, according to Anne Arundel County police. Robert Raecke, 23, of the 900 block of Shamrock Court was pronounced dead at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center, after he was struck in the face by a man police say he physically assaulted, then fell and hit his head on the pavement. Police and fire emergency personnel who responded to the 900 block of Princeton Terrace about 2:40 a.m. after a report of an assault found Raecke suffering from head injuries.

The death of a 24-year-old Frederick man at a downtown hotel early Wednesday had city homicide investigators stumped. Police initially reported that the man had been the victim of a homicide, but within hours, they said the death was being treated as "suspicious." Few answers emerged as the day progressed, and an autopsy by the state medical examiner's office offered little additional insight. The victim was visiting Baltimore to celebrate a birthday with two other men from Frederick, according to Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman.

When the annual US Lacrosse National Convention returns to the Baltimore Convention Center this weekend, a hot topic of discussion among the 5,000 coaches, officials and lacrosse enthusiasts expected to attend will be how to deal with concussions. The subject has drawn enormous media attention lately, mainly because of new guidelines set by the NFL that require players who exhibit concussion symptoms to be removed from games and practices. Because lacrosse is a contact sport and one of the fastest-growing team sports in the United States - youth participation reportedly has grown by more than 500 percent since 1999 to nearly 250,000 - educating coaches and parents about concussions is seen as critical.

Dante Parrish always swore he was wrongly convicted for the 1999 murder of an East Baltimore man, and his pleas eventually gained the attention of the Innocence Project, which took up the case last year. The evidence, according to lawyers for the small unit of state public defenders who represent people they believe have been wrongly convicted, was shaky from the start, relying on what they say was a false witness identification of Parrish and a gun that he never owned. So when Parrish was awarded a new trial in January, Innocence Project attorneys considered it a victory, but one that lost its luster when the 35-year-old was arrested Thursday night and charged with the rape and fatal stabbing of Jason Madison Jr., 15. Baltimore police say Parrish confessed to the killing Friday morning.

Even though the NFL revised guidelines on managing concussions in the offseason, league critics believe it hasn't gone far enough to reduce the risk of permanent or long-term injury. Recent concussions suffered by Trent Green of the Miami Dolphins and Jon Kitna of the Detroit Lions serve as cautionary tales, those critics say. Green suffered his second severe concussion in 13 months last Sunday when he took a knee to the right side of his head. He is out indefinitely. Kitna was removed from a Week 2 game, only to return in the second half to lead the Lions to a win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Todd Heap remembers catching a pass in the end zone ... and then darkness. It was four years ago against Denver that Heap thought he had scored a touchdown before Broncos linebacker Al Wilson forced an incompletion by planting his shoulder underneath the Ravens tight end's chin. EAGLES @RAVENS Preseason game, tomorrow, 7 p.m., M&T Bank Stadium, ch. 45, MASN2, 1090 AM, 97.9 FM

Confronted with unhappy and increasingly unhealthy retired players, the NFL is embarking on a study of concussions - estimated to cost as much as $3 million - in search of evidence of chronic brain dysfunction. Dr. Ira Casson, co-chairman of the league's research team on concussions, this week said he hopes to answer the ominous question "of whether or not a career in the NFL results in any kind of chronic brain injury." To a number of retired players, including several former Colts, that answer is already in. Merril Hoge was forced to retire from the Chicago Bears after suffering two concussions within the span of 42 days early in the 1994 season.

A longtime Maryland resident who had been serving with a Florida National Guard unit died this week of injuries sustained in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Suplee, 39, who grew up in Anne Arundel County and later lived in the Reisterstown area, suffered a head injury in a collision between a Humvee and a larger military vehicle April 3, a military spokesman said. Sergeant Suplee, who was partially paralyzed in the accident, was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center in early April for treatment, and in May was transferred to a veterans hospital in the Tampa, Fla., area, said Jon Myatt, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Military Affairs.