Negligent Driving

A 35-year-old Ellicott City woman who was legally drunk when she crashed into the back of a motorcycle, killing its rider, was sentenced yesterday to one year in jail, the maximum penalty after prosecutors were forced to drop more serious charges. Saying the limitations of the case did not allow him to send Susan Elizabeth Williams to prison for a substantial period and also place her on probation centered on alcohol treatment, Howard County Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney said the 1-year term was needed to meet "the goal of justice in this case."

A police officer who didn't realize how seriously a victim was injured and a prosecutor's maternity leave were among the factors that enabled an Ellicott City woman to avoid a vehicular homicide charge after killing a motorcyclist in a drunken-driving accident, Howard's top prosecutor said. Susan Elizabeth Williams, 35, could be sentenced to up to a year in jail after her conviction Monday of driving under the influence, the most serious charge that remained after a Howard County Circuit Court judge dismissed motor-vehicle homicide charges related to the death Sept.

A police officer who didn't realize how seriously a victim was injured and a prosecutor's maternity leave were among the factors that enabled an Ellicott City woman to avoid a vehicular homicide charge after killing a motorcyclist in a drunken-driving accident, Howard's top prosecutor says. Susan Elizabeth Williams, 35, faces up to a year in jail after her conviction Monday of driving under the influence, the most serious charge that remained after a Howard County circuit judge dismissed motor-vehicle homicide charges related to the death Sept.

Police arrested an 18-year-old Laurel man Monday after an Anne Arundel County grand jury indicted him on nine charges related to a Sept. 30 crash that left two of his friends dead. Vincent Merrill Dilworth Jr. was critically injured when the vehicle he was driving on Brock Bridge Road in Laurel smashed into a tree, which then fell onto the car. It appears Dilworth was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash, Anne Arundel County police said. Dilworth's passengers, Corey Eugene Gibson, 23, and Michael Joseph Stansbury Jr., 17, were killed on impact, police said.

Howard County police plan to use a law that carries a less stringent penalty to charge people caught in crosswalk stings, officials said this week. Instead of using the crosswalk law, police will impose negligent driving charges on violators who fail to stop for a plainclothes officer crossing on the marked pavement, county police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said. The negligent driving citation allows violators to pay a $270 fine without appearing in court and carries no jail time, Llewellyn and a local lawyer said.

A Howard County police officer was slightly injured early yesterday when a man accused of drunken driving hit him on U.S. 1 in Elkridge, police say. Officer Charles Toler was standing outside his marked cruiser in the southbound lanes of the 5800 block of U.S. 1 at 3:45 a.m., responding to an attempted burglary call, when a 1996 Toyota Avalon crossed the center line and hit him in the leg and his car on the driver's side mirror, police said. Police said they found 35 baggies of suspected heroin in the Avalon.

A state trooper responding to an accident on U.S. 50 near Route 301 in Bowie was injured yesterday when he was struck by another car driving by the crash. Trooper Jerome Johnson of the College Park barracks was hospitalized with nonlife-threatening injuries, as was a bystander who was also struck. Police said a vehicle driven by Mike Anthony Angeline, 40, of Clayton, Del., spun out of control because of standing water on the highway. Angeline was charged with negligent driving. Police are asking witnesses to the accident to call the Maryland State Police at 301-345-3101.

Traffic traveling north on Interstate 95 in Howard County was backed up for more than five miles during the afternoon rush hour yesterday because of two related crashes. A 26-year-old man speeding in a Kia Spectra crashed into a vehicle south of Route 216, then drove about a quarter-mile and struck a second, said state police Trooper Robert McCormick. The driver of the Kia suffered injuries to his right leg and was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. The other motorists sustained minor injuries, McCormick said.

An 18-year-old Laurel man was charged with aggressive driving and other traffic offenses after a Carroll County sheriff's deputy was led on a chase on Interstate 70 between Mount Airy and Woodbine, authorities said yesterday. A sheriff's deputy saw a 1996 Honda speeding and weaving through traffic early Wednesday afternoon. When the deputy tried to stop the car, the driver sped east on I-70 at up to 130 mph, the sheriff's office said. The car left the highway at the Woodbine Road exit, where it slid into a ditch.

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.