Mta Police

AS IF IT wasn't bad enough for Ron Levy and his son, Ben, to see the Orioles lose the pennant in extra innings at Camden Yards on Oct. 15, wait until you hear what happened when they returned to the Mass Transit Administration's Park and Ride lot in White Marsh."

An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun in Anne Arundel about a man arrested on charges of burglarizing cars near Baltimore-Washington International Airport incorrectly identified the police agency that made the arrest.Maryland Transportation Authority police arrested the man.The Sun regrets the error.A Washington man who police believe broke into at least six cars at hotels near Baltimore-Washington International Airport was arrested yesterday after a high-speed chase around airport property, Mass Transit Administration police said.

Here's a tale that might have had a tragic ending if not for the efforts of two downtown workers forced to walk home from work after their car was buried in by the Blizzard of '96.About 9 p.m. on Jan. 10 -- when the metropolitan area was blanketed by nearly 2 feet of snow -- the man and woman were nearing Bolton Hill when they saw a high-sitting, four-wheel drive vehicle turn from Mount Royal Avenue onto the southbound light rail tracks that run parallel to...

A Mass Transit Administration police officer was wounded and another man was killed Monday night when the two exchanged gunfire outside the Johns Hopkins Hospital subway station, city police said yesterday.Officer Kenneth Combs, 30, a six-year member of the MTA force, was struck with shotgun pellets in the left side of his abdomen while he sat in a marked police cruiser near the Metro entrance in the 700 block of N. Broadway.The unidentified assailant was shot when Officer Combs returned fire from his cruiser -- through the windshield -- with his 9 mm Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handgun, police said.

Contract extensions will keep off-duty police officers from Baltimore and from Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties patrolling light-rail stations in their jurisdictions during discussions on maintaining security.Baltimore County's contract, which was to have expired this week, has been extended to Sept. 1 at the county's request, said Anthony Brown, a Mass Transit Administration spokesman. The city and Anne Arundel contracts remain in force until July 1997.Crime surged around some light-rail stops and on some light-rail trains after the service opened in April 1992.

Two 16-year-olds were arrested yesterday in the theft of a car, MTA police said.Kerry Brandt, a Maryland Transportation Authority spokeswoman, said police saw a car swerving among cones dividing the eastbound and westbound lanes of U.S. 50 by the Bay Bridge about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.The 1993 Dodge Spirit sped into Sandy Point State Park, where two people jumped out as the car slowed on the shoulder of a road, Ms. Brandt said. One surrendered to police, and the other ran into the woods, she said.

State Sen. Michael J. Wagner told a group of community leaders, residents, merchants, law enforcement officials and politicians last night that the chance of closing the Linthicum light rail station is "minute.""We know we have problems," said Mr. Wagner, a Ferndale Democrat and longtime supporter of the 27-mile commuter line between Glen Burnie and Timonium. "We need to talk about solutions."He is organizing a neighborhood group to discuss ways to curb the crime that some say light rail is bringing to northern Anne Arundel County.

Before he wades through a light rail car filled with unruly teens, Bernie Foster dons his most stern state trooper face.His eyes narrow. His jaw clenches. His posture stiffens. The hardened expression telegraphs a message: "Don't mess with me. I mean business."The youths are loud. They hurl a few mildly insulting comments. But that's as bad as it gets."They seem to have a lot of pent-up energy," he notes dryly. "It's a phenomenon I don't quite understand."That may have to change if Mass Transit Administration Police Chief Bernard B. Foster Sr. is to curb the rising problem of youth crime on buses and the light rail system.

To combat crime on the Central Light Rail Line, the state Mass Transit Administration announced last night that MTA police officers will ride trains every day, and local police from Baltimore and from Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties will be stationed at most of the light rail stops.Bernard B. Foster Sr., chief of the MTA police, said officers began riding the light rail trains yesterday and that local police in the city and two counties will be stationed at stations beginning Friday."Every train will have an MTA police officer on it," Chief Foster said.

The number of crimes reported on Baltimore's light rail system has risen dramatically this year at a time when overall crime is down on other forms of public transit.Mass Transit Administration officials attributed much of the increase to higher light rail ridership. The southern segment of the Central Light Rail Line was completed in June, and the MTA estimates that there may be twice as many passengers riding the system as a year ago. The disruptive behavior of adolescent boys, often as young as 12, also appears to be contributing to the problem, officials contend.

The Maryland Transit Administration Police will launch a program of random security checks at MARC commuter train stations Friday, using bomb-sniffing dogs to screen passengers' luggage and packages to detect explosives. The MTA warned riders that delays could occur and urged passengers to allow extra time to board trains on the Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines. Lt. Col. John E. Gavrilis, chief of the MTA police, said the tighter security is not a response to a specific threat but part of a general effort to "target-harden" Maryland transit facilities.

Mars? We have enough problems at home American narcissism has no limits. When the government has a deficit so staggering that the human mind has trouble wrapping itself around the amount, and when the homelessness, joblessness and hunger in this country are reaching record proportions, to propose that we increase that deficit to send men to Mars and ignore these and other dire problems is narcissistic insanity that only the delusional can embrace ("Destination...

Police reports in baltimore city : Northwest Baltimore Homicide/arrest A second suspect in the shooting death of Petro Taylor, 20, of the 2700 block of Gwynnmore Ave. in Woodlawn, whose body was found in December in Leakin Park, was arrested yesterday by members of the Regional Warrant Apprehension Task Force. Charged with first-degree murder, assault and conspiracy was Sierra Pyles, 19, of the 3400 block of Dudley Ave. Arrested Feb. 19 and charged as an adult was Greshauna Rogers, 16, of the 2900 block of Ridgewood Ave. Both were being held at Central Booking and Intake Center.

What that mean? The grammar is poor; the English is either broken or Ebonics, depending on your perspective. The 13-year-old girl asked that question about the definition of what you or I might consider a pretty simple word. Justified. For defense attorney Jerry Tarud, the question was enough to convince him of one thing: If the girl didn't know the meaning of the word justified, how could she understand her Miranda rights? Tarud is a defense attorney for the girl. She was 13 on Dec. 4, the day Sarah Kreager was viciously attacked while riding a Maryland Transit Administration bus. Kreager was left with broken bones in her face.

After a series of violent incidents on its buses in Baltimore, the Maryland Transit Administration will announce plans today to improve cooperation with city law enforcement agencies. Jawauna Greene, an MTA spokeswoman, said yesterday that the agency's police officials were meeting "around the clock" with their counterparts in the Baltimore Police Department and the Baltimore school police to develop a plan to improve safety. Among other steps, the MTA police will ease any jurisdictional policies that might keep officers from the other departments from responding to incidents on MTA property.

Attorneys representing two of the nine juveniles charged in the beating of a bus passenger in Hampden said yesterday that authorities have not presented evidence that shows the teenagers were part of a melee this month that left a woman seriously injured. "The Baltimore City state's attorney's office has provided me with discovery materials which consist of a police report that can be described as lacking in detail, at best," said Jay M. Ortis, who represents a 14-year-old boy charged in the Dec. 4 attack.

The Maryland Transit Administration has released pictures of five men its police force wants to interview in connection with an assault this week on a Route No. 64 bus. Jawauna Greene, an MTA spokeswoman, said the pictures were captured by a video surveillance camera aboard the bus Monday night and Tuesday morning. The assault follows a high-profile attack that is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Greene said a group of four to six black males boarded the bus at 11:57 p.m. Monday at Sixth and Hanover streets in Brooklyn.

Security has been stepped up on the Baltimore region's light rail system as authorities investigate a spate of violence on the transit line in recent weeks. Since early this month, assailants have targeted light rail passengers in the city in four robberies. In one case, a group assault led to the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old girl. After a robbery Saturday night, a Maryland Transit Administration police officer fatally shot one of three suspects. Lt. Col. John Gavrilis, deputy chief of the Maryland Transit Administration police, said officers are working closely with Baltimore police to bolster security at the stations.

Police were looking yesterday for two men who fled after a gunpoint robbery Saturday night at the Reisterstown Road Plaza Metro station that resulted in the fatal shooting of a suspect by an undercover Maryland Transit Administration officer. The robbery about 7 p.m. of a man who had gotten off the subway was the latest of several at the station in the 4700 block of Patterson Ave. that had prompted the MTA police to assign a seven-member team of plainclothes officers there. The victim Saturday night was robbed of his bus pass but was unharmed.

The fugitive's tattoo gave him away, as two Baltimore police officers apprehended the subject of a citywide escape alert yesterday morning. Rolf, the bomb-sniffing German shepherd, had been at large since disappearing from his handler's home Saturday night. He was returned to the custody of the Maryland Transit Administration Police. On Sunday the MTA Police put out a "be-on-the-lookout" bulletin to police agencies and the news media concerning the 2-year-old dog, assigned to Officer Donald Paige.