Officer Fired

An off-duty Baltimore police officer fired his service weapon while struggling with two assailants who were trying to rob him last night as he left a liquor store on Reisterstown Road, police said.The officer was leaving the store, in the 5400 block of Reisterstown Road, about 9: 30 p.m. when two men approached him and attempted to rob him, and a struggle ensued, said police spokeswoman Ragina Cooper.The officer fired at least once, she said. One suspect was apprehended, but the other fled, she said.

A convicted kidnapper who has been charged in the killings of two women apparently attempted suicide in his cell yesterday, said a spokeswoman for the state Division of Correction.Joseph Metheny was found bleeding from a neck wound about 6: 45 p.m in his cell at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center on East Madison Street, according to Maxine Eldridge, the spokeswoman. He was in stable condition at University of Maryland Medical Center last night, she said, and the incident is being investigated.

It's every police officer's nightmare. On a dark, rainy night in the inner city, an officer sees a gun and fires, hitting a teen-ager holding what turns out to be a toy or less-than-lethal firearm.Osborne Robinson III lived that nightmare Wednesday night, only the bullets he fired from 30 feet away missed. The gun the 15-year-old allegedly pointed at him was a pellet gun designed as a replica of 17-shot Glock 9mm semiautomatic handgun.Robinson, an officer who is a member of the Violent Crime Task Force assigned to get guns off the streets, was described as shaken by the incident, which has Baltimore police commanders warning youths about the dangers of carrying fake guns that look like the real thing.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer was put on administrative leave yesterday after he shot a 16-year-old boy while trying to subdue a dog in East Baltimore.The 46-year-old officer, a patrolman in the Southeast District whose name was not released, was stripped of his police powers pending an investigation this week by the state's attorney's office, said Agent Ragina L. Cooper, a police spokeswoman.The incident occurred about 7 p.m. yesterday in front of the Stop, Shop and Save in the Church Square Shopping Center at 929 N. Caroline St., Cooper said.

A Howard County police officer who was fired from the force Monday says he plans to take legal action against the county over alleged racist slurs against his Asian fiancee.Officer Paul Smith, 38, was fired after an internal review board last week found him guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and falsifying a police report in connection with an incident involving the clerk of a Jessup video store in August 1996.But Smith -- a 10-year veteran of the Howard force -- says the real reason he was fired was because he filed a formal complaint against a superior officer in September 1996, accusing him of speaking in broken English while referring to Smith's Taiwanese fiancee, Kuei "Amy" Huei Lin, who was a witness in the video store incident.

A city police officer shot and wounded a woman who he said charged him with a knife after she had threatened her teen-age nephew in their Northeast Baltimore home early yesterday.Officer Michael L. Jerscheid, 30, a five-year veteran assigned to Northeastern District, shot the woman once with his Glock 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, police said.Police said Maria Beverly, 33, of the 2100 block of Pentland Drive was treated at Sinai Hospital and charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder and possession of a deadly weapon.

Baltimore police officer Shean D. Camper was found not guilty of manslaughter yesterday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed suspect in May.Officer Camper, 24, cried after the Baltimore Circuit Court jury announced its verdict. He stood behind the trial table and embraced his sergeant from the Northeastern District and as he left the courtroom, exchanged hugs with fellow officers, his mother and his aunt."It was like a release of all the emotions I built up over the whole ordeal," the officer said later.

A man who police said aimed a handgun at an officer after a foot chase was shot 10 times and killed yesterday on a trash-strewn lot in a drug-ridden pocket of West Baltimore.The man, who was not immediately identified, was shot in numerous parts of his body and declared dead at the scene shortly before 2 p.m.Although police said the man had threatened the officer with a gun, witnesses said the man did not produce a weapon.Residents in the Franklin Square community also said that scores of police officers have swarmed the area in recent months and used "heavy-handed" tactics in an effort to rid the neighborhood of drugs.

25 Years Ago (Week of Sept. 14-20, 1969):* The C&O and B&O Railroads announced plans for a railroad track and yard construction program that would link the G.E. Appliance Park East with the main railroad line at Jessup.* For the first time in about five years, a Howard County police officer found it necessary to fire his service revolver in the line of duty. The officer fired at a car containing two youths who were fleeing the scene of a burglary.50 Years Ago (Week of Sept. 17-23, 1944):* The Reverend Michael E. Ryan, pastor of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Ellicott City, celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination.

An alleged robber was shot and critically wounded last night by an off-duty Baltimore police officer working security at the Pay Less Shoe Source at Mount Clare Junction shopping center, investigators said.A man entered the store in the 1200 block of W. Pratt St. shortly before 7 p.m. and announced a robbery, apparently not realizing that the officer was there working security, police said.An employee handed the man cash and, while his attention was diverted, the off-duty officer pulled his pistol and announced he was a police officer, said Officer Sabrina Tapp-Harper, a police spokeswoman.

An Anne Arundel County police officer shot and wounded the 16-year-old driver of a Dodge Durango who is accused of striking him twice early Tuesday, the second shooting by an Arundel officer in less than 24 hours. Just before 3 a.m., an officer responding to reports of people tampering with a vehicle in the Ashley Apartment complex in Laurel arrived in the 3400 block of Andrew Court to find people in a Dodge Durango in a parking space. The officer left his car, and the Durango backed up and struck the police car and the officer, police said.

A man who was shot during a gunbattle with city police officers in East Baltimore on Sunday night died yesterday morning, a Police Department spokesman said. The man, whose identity was not released pending notification of relatives, was pronounced dead at an area hospital at 1:45 a.m., said the spokesman, Officer Troy Harris. The man was shot about 10:15 p.m. when two members of a tactical unit responded to sounds of gunshots in the 3100 block of McElderry St. and saw two men shooting at each other.

Man who pointed rifle at officer eludes surveillance Baltimore police surrounded a block of rowhouses in Northwest Baltimore early yesterday to search for a man who they said had pointed a rifle at an officer. After six hours, police watching a house to which they thought he had run on Allendale Road found that the man was not there. The officers found several pit bulls, including one about 10 weeks old, in the basement. Authorities said they are investigating whether the dogs were being used for fighting.

A 43-year-old Northeast Baltimore woman died after a city police officer fired his Taser at her when she attacked him, a police spokesman said yesterday. The officer, identified by the department as Irving Hinkson, 40, a 10-year veteran and member of the SWAT team, was in the rear of the 3300 block of Belair Road doing drug surveillance Tuesday. About 10 p.m., he saw a man who he believed was carrying drugs and chased him, police said. The man threw the drugs and ran off. "As he was going to recover the drugs, this woman jumps him and starts fighting with him," said Matt Jablow, a city police spokesman.

A Baltimore police officer was injured when he was struck as one of three men being arrested on drug charges sped away from a traffic stop yesterday afternoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in West Baltimore, police said. Officers chased the car, a Ford Crown Victoria, south on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Russell and Hamburg streets, near M&T Bank Stadium, where an officer said he saw a man reach for what he thought was a weapon. Sgt. Melvin Russell said the officer fired one shot at the car, striking the hood, but did not hit anyone inside.

An Anne Arundel County police officer shot a man who allegedly tried to run him over during a traffic stop in Severn, the fourth time this year a county police officer has shot a suspect. The officer, whose name has not been released, stopped Calvin Fitzgerald Johnson, 41, of Bowie about 11:50 p.m. Sunday near Pine Cove Avenue and Town Center Boulevard on suspicion of driving under the influence. The officer, a three-year veteran of the department, requested Johnson's license and registration.

A city police officer fired several shots at a man yesterday morning after a car chase through South Baltimore. The officer apparently did not hit the suspect, but the man was taken to Harbor Hospital Center with slight injuries caused by broken glass, police said. The officer was using radar on traffic in the 600 block of E. Patapsco Ave. when he clocked a Dodge Stealth driving 62 mph in a 40 mph zone. He chased the car to the 3600 block of Hanover St., where it got stuck in traffic. As the officer approached the car, the driver "maneuvered his vehicle to hit the officer," said a police spokesman.

A Baltimore police officer shot and seriously wounded a woman who lunged at him with a knife in the doorway of a Northeast Baltimore house yesterday afternoon, police officials said. The woman, described as being in her late 40s or early 50s, was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was listed in critical but stable condition. Police declined to identify her or the officer involved in the shooting. Police said the incident began about 2:55 p.m. when at least one officer responded to the home in the 2200 block of Hamilton Ave. for a domestic problem.

A man armed with a gun was shot and killed by a Baltimore police officer early yesterday in the Cherry Hill neighborhood, authorities said. The man, believed to be in his early 20s, was killed by an officer responding to a call of shots being fired in the 800 block of Bethune Road, according to Officer Troy J. Harris, a police spokesman. "We're unsure what occurred next, but the officer said the suspect turned and pointed a gun at him and [the officer] fired," Harris said. The officer fired one shot, Harris said, adding that the man did not fire at the officer.

A Baltimore City police officer was shot and a stolen car suspect killed by another police officer early today in the Highlandtown section of Southeast Baltimore. The name of the wounded officer and that of the dead suspect were not immediately available. Details early today were sketchy, but police said an officer assigned to the Southeastern District stopped a car in the 600 block of S. Highland Ave. near Foster Avenue about 12:35 a.m. The officer believed the car was stolen and was attempting to remove the driver from the car when the driver pulled a gun and shot the officer at least once in the leg. Other police who had arrived on the scene as back-up units pulled their service semiautomatic weapons.