Howard County Police

The headline accompanying an article in yesterday's editions of The Sun may have given an incorrect impression about departmental charges filed against three Howard County police officers. The charges concern only the officers' role in breaking up a party at a Jessup motel Jan. 5.Howard County police filed departmental charges yesterday against three officers accused of brutality in a case that became controversial when one of the young men they arrested in a Jessup motel room was found hanged behind a Columbia school four months later.

A Howard County judge threw out charges Thursday that an Ellicott City woman was driving under the influence of alcohol, ruling that they were linked to an illegal quota indicating that officers had to cite two to four motorists every hour. It was unclear how many other county cases might be affected by the ruling, which involved federally funded initiatives that targeted drunk and aggressive drivers from January through April of 2011. At least two other similar cases are pending before the same judge.

Howard Community College was evacuated Thursday morning after someone called in a bomb threat to local police. Howard County police officials said they ordered all students out of the Columbia school before 10 a.m., after receiving a call stating there was a bomb on the college's property. After searching the school, police ruled the threat a hoax and allowed students to return to class before 11 a.m., officials said. Mike Scrivener, a college spokesman, said the buildings were evacuated for about 40 minutes and the disruption was minimal.

A Columbia family was upset with Howard County police yesterday, the day after an officer shot and killed its dog. "He was a big teddy bear," said Janet Baumann, 41, of her family's English mastiff, Duke, a "gentle giant" of a dog who weighed 180 pounds. Police say they killed the dog, which was running loose Friday afternoon, because it was attacking neighborhood children and charged a police officer. No one was hurt. "We tried to get a hold of the owner but were unsuccessful," Howard County police Lt. Nancy Yeager said yesterday.

A "confidential investigative document" about Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark's domestic dispute in May was destroyed before Mayor Martin O'Malley announced that Clark had been cleared, according to memos written by two high-ranking city police officials. But a spokeswoman for the Howard County Police Department, which conducted the investigation, played down any significance, saying yesterday that the document was nearly identical to the final report handed over to Baltimore City Solicitor Ralph S. Tyler during a meeting June 1. "The preliminary draft was destroyed so there would not be any confusion," said spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn, who added that she did not know who did it. In one memo, the city's internal affairs commander wrote that during the June meeting, a Howard County police lieutenant asked Tyler about "the destruction of the previous confidential investigative document."

Although the number of crimes in Howard County rose slightly last year when compared with 2004, crime rates held steady and no one category showed significant change, according to the Police Department's annual report released yesterday. "The fluctuations from 2004 to 2005 are small both in increases and decreases," said Sherry Llewellyn, a spokeswoman for Howard County police. "Because this report doesn't show us anything particularly dramatic, it doesn't give us an indication that we need to change the way we do business right now."

A 15-year-old Prince George's County runaway was critically wounded by a Howard County police officer yesterday after a high-speed chase involving a stolen car.The wounded boy was flown by state police helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was reported in critical condition last night with a gunshot wound to the left shoulder, a hospital spokeswoman said.Sgt. Robert Adams, a Howard County police spokesman, gave this account of the incident, which began shortly after midnight:Officer Kevin Meile tried to stop a 1985 Toyota 4-Runner that was speeding on Interstate 70 near Route 97 in Cooksville.

A Howard County police officer accused of running an illegal gambling operation filed suit yesterday, saying his department violated his right to free speech, including his ability speak out against Chief Wayne Livesay's campaign for a seat on the County Council. The lawsuit follows an e-mail sent to officers Thursday by Livesay's public affairs director, Sherry Llewellyn, "reminding" them that they are not authorized to speak with reporters unless she has cleared such contact in advance.

Chris Wilcox, a former University of Maryland basketball star turned center for the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, was arrested yesterday morning after police discovered a gun in his car during a traffic stop in Howard County. Wilcox, 22, who was the eighth pick in the 2002 draft after helping the Terrapins win the NCAA championship, could not provide proof that the .357 Ruger revolver belonged to him or that he had a permit to carry it, Howard County police said. Wilcox was stopped on southbound Route 29 in Columbia at 2 a.m. after an officer saw him struggling to stay in a lane, police said.

Cindy Shumaker, 26, was late for work."I'm so sorry," said Shumaker, who dabbed her tearing eyes with tissues while contemplating a $70 ticket for driving 38 mph in a 25 mph zone near Hammond High School in Columbia.She was one of several dozen drivers stopped by Howard County police yesterday morning as Monday's opening of classes brought stepped-up traffic enforcement around schools."I didn't even see [the officer] in the road," Shumaker added. "I was too busy lighting my cigarette."Howard County police Pfc. George Williams started aiming his laser gun at cars rounding a bend on Eden Brook Drive about 7 a.m. A beep-beep-beep, then buzz emitted from the device before it registered the car's speed on a small display.