Negligent Driving

A 36-year-old Harper's Choice man has been charged with drunken driving and a number of motor vehicle violations, after he allegedly smashed into a police car and drove away in Ellicott City Wednesday night.Christopher James Dominiski, 36, of the 10000 block of Olde Woods Way, was charged with driving while intoxicated, failing to stop a vehicle at the scene of an accident, reckless driving, negligent driving and failure to obey a traffic control device.He was released on personal recognizance early yesterday morning, Howard County police said.

A Davidsonville man was arrested Saturday and charged with attempted murder after police said he robbed his girlfriend and ran her over with his pickup truck.Eric Scott McDonald, 27, of the 700 block of Petersburg Road also was charged with assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to rob, robbery, assault, battery, theft, driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence, reckless driving, negligent driving, failure to stop a vehicle at the scene of an accident, and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.

A Hampstead man was charged yesterday with negligent manslaughter in a fatal crash in April in Eldersburg that killed the driver of a pickup truck, state police said. Joseph K. Nash, 44, of the 2400 block of Fairmount Road was charged with one count of negligent manslaughter by automobile, two counts of negligent homicide by automobile, driving while impaired by drugs, driving while impaired by a controlled dangerous substance, reckless driving, negligent driving and failure to drive right of center, according to court documents.

A Carroll County judge has stepped aside from hearing traffic charges against a man who went to prison for his role in a fatal 1998 crash and went on to receive a half-dozen speeding tickets in the years since his release. Judge Marc C. Rasinsky recused himself Wednesday in the District Court trial of Frederick Henry Hensen Jr., citing an article Sunday in The Baltimore Sun on Hensen's history of speeding and other driving violations. Hensen got tickets before and after his involvement in the crash that killed middle school teacher Geraldine Wu. Hensen was convicted of manslaughter by automobile in 1999, along with another man who participated in a road race on Route 140 that ended in the crash that killed Wu. A third man pleaded guilty in 1998.

A Carroll County jury yesterday acquitted a 19-year-old Marriottsville man of two charges of automobile manslaughter in an Eldersburg crash that occurred while he was speeding to get TTC teen-age cousins home by their curfew.William J. Kassakatis was found guilty of seven lesser offenses and fined $2,000 by Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. in the June 25 accident.Killed in the accident in the 6600 block of Monroe Ave. were Jill Marie Peay, 15, of the 7400 block of Norris Ave. in Sykesville, and Jessica Erin Harley, 16, of the 1700 block of Maryland Ave. in Shady Side, Anne Arundel County.

A veteran Anne Arundel County prosecutor was found not guilty of drunken driving yesterday, on charges stemming from a July car accident in Annapolis.Deputy State's Attorney Gerald K. Anders, 50, of Annapolis, was convicted of failure to yield the right of way and fined $50 plus $15 court costs in Annapolis District Court yesterday by Judge Joseph Anthony Ciotola Sr., a retired judge from Baltimore recruited to handle the case.Mr. Anders had been charged with failure to yield the right of way, negligent driving and driving under the influence of alcohol after a July 27 car accident along Rowe Boulevard near its intersection with Taylor Avenue.

A man who confessed nearly nine months after his truck hit and killed a pedestrian cannot be charged with auto manslaughter because there is not enough evidence, the county state's attorney's office said yesterday.After reviewing the evidence in the March 26, 1993, accident, prosecutors said that Steven James Payton, 37, of the 7400 block of Furnace Branch Road in Glen Burnie could only be charged with negligent driving and failing to stay at the scene of a fatal accident.A conviction for leaving the scene of an accident carries a maximum one-year jail sentence.

A 19-year-old Severna Park man was convicted in Anne Arundel Circuit Court yesterday of negligent driving in an April accident that killed a 15-year-old honor student.Judge Martin A. Wolff acquitted Joseph Leigh Cornett of a more serious charge, auto manslaughter, in the April 5 accident that killed Bethany Anne Balasic, who was a passenger in Cornett's pickup.Cornett could get up to two months in jail and a $500 fine when he is sentenced Nov. 13. He could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for auto manslaughter.

In Baltimore City Three men fatally shot, 2 wounded in 2 incidents Five men were shot, three fatally, in two incidents yesterday in Baltimore, police reported. James Armstrong Jr., 25, of the 1700 block of N. Broadway was killed in the first incident. He and three other men were shot about 2:30 a.m. in a house in the 1700 block of E. North Ave. A second man also was killed, but his identity was not released. Two men were injured and taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment. In a separate incident, an unidentified man was shot and killed about 6 p.m. yesterday in the 700 block of N. Montford Ave., said Lt. Ken Stanley.

NATIONAL Rev. Falwell dies The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the conservative televangelist and founder of the Moral Majority, died yesterday at a Lynchburg, Va., hospital after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. pg 1a U.S. defends Wolfowitz The White House said "all options are on the table" about the leadership of the World Bank, even as it defended embattled President Paul Wolfowitz as he fights conflict-of-interest charges. pg 4a MARYLAND Council vote topples Icon A key City Council committee has killed the $75 million Icon project, a 23-story tower that would have risen on Canton's waterfront if not for people's fears that it would overwhelm the neighborhood and worsen traffic.