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 Baltimore County police officer's weapon discharged as he struggled with a prisoner receiving treatment at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson on Wednesday, police said. The officer was guarding a prisoner arrested in connection with a burglary who was receiving medical treatment in the hospital's emergency room, according to police. Police said an altercation broke out after hospital workers discovered the prisoner was hiding a needle in his clothing and the man grabbed a hospital staff member.

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 man was found shot early Saturday in the 400 block of N. Collington Ave., near the Butcher's Hill and Patterson Place neighborhoods, police said. Around midnight, an officer on foot near the 2200 block of Jefferson Street approached as an unidentified person was shooting at a 30-year-old man, police said. Pulling his own gun, the officer ordered the suspect to drop his weapon, police said. The suspect instead turned and fired at the officer, who shot back without appearing to hit the suspect, police said.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer who attacked an off-duty city firefighter in anger because of the way the firefighter parked near his house has been fired from the police force, according to officials.Police Commissioner Edward V. Woods ordered Officer Randy R. Rogers, a nine-year veteran assigned to the Southern District, fired effective Feb. 20 for assaulting the firefighter and damaging his car in the dispute, which took place in Glen Burnie.According to Michael A. Fry, an assistant city solicitor, the incident occurred Jan. 31 when Robert M. Messoria, a 20-year-old firefighter assigned to Engine 23, went to pick up his dog at a Ritchie Highway veterinarian with his girlfriend and his mother.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

Baltimore police on Wednesday identified the two officers who fired their service weapons at a man who'd allegedly threatened them with a gun Saturday as Detectives Christopher Icenroad and Donta Williams. Both detectives are members of the department's Violent Crime Impact Section. Police also identified the man shot by the officers as Leontey Kiah, 36, whose last known address is the 4000 block of W. Rogers Avenue. Kiah sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the altercation with police.

A pit bull was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon in Edgewood by a deputy with the Harford County sheriff's office after it bit a child and then charged the officer, according to a sheriff's spokeswoman. The shooting came one day after the General Assembly deadlocked over legislation that would have overruled a court decision labeling pit bulls as inherently dangerous animals, ending the bill's chance of passage during this summer's second special session. An anonymous caller first contacted police about 4:50 p.m. to report two aggressive pit bulls walking in the 1400 block of St. Michael's Court in the Stoneleigh Square subdivision, said Monica Worrell, the spokeswoman.

A Baltimore police officer who resigned after being convicted of assaulting a 13-year-old relative in 2008 was arrested against this week and charged with a similar offense, according to a police department spokesman. Troy Jaquan Gee, 37, of the 5400 block of Sagra Ave. in Northeast Baltimore was charged Monday with two sex offenses and one count each of attempted rape and assault. He was ordered Tuesday held without bail at the city detention center. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the incident occurred in December while a young relative was at home over winter break.

A man pulled over on Interstate 95 early Tuesday morning was able to flee in a Baltimore County police cruiser before being fatally shot by officers just inside the city line, officials said. Police have identified the man as Monpreet Chona, 26, of Halethorpe. It remained unclear how the officer surrendered the patrol car, with county police saying that aspect remains under investigation. City police, who are investigating the shooting because of where it took place, said no guns were recovered from the suspect or his vehicles.

A Baltimore City police officer wounded when a colleague accidentally fired his gun inside a house in Odenton on Tuesday returned fire at the "perceived threat," according to new information from authorities in Anne Arundel County. The city officer, who was struck in the arm, "fired several rounds in response to the perceived threat," according to a statement released this morning that offers new details of the shooting and backs what an occupant of the house has told reporters. Police had gone to the house in the 100 block of Pine Cove Ave. in Odenton searching for a drug suspect.

Police were on an undercover sting targeting a man in a marijuana case in Anne Arundel County when one officer accidentally shot a colleague, according to court documents filed Tuesday. The suspect had already been arrested outside a home in Odenton on Monday afternoon when officers on a multi-jurisdictional task force raided the residence in the 100 block of Pinecove Ave. Police found a female occupant, described as cooperative, and spread out through the house. Authorities said a Baltimore County officer accidentally fired his gun, striking a city officer in the arm. On Tuesday, Anne Arundel County police said for the first time that the city officer returned fire with several shots, but did not hit anyone.

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.

A police officer shot and killed a pit bull yesterday in West Baltimore after the dog ran amok, killing a dog and terrorizing a cat before charging the officer.Central District Officer Curtis Dixon, 26, went to the 600 block of Smithson St. about 11:50 a.m. for a report of a wild dog and found the pit bull chasing after a cat, police said. Earlier, the dog, known in the neighborhood as Willie, had attacked and killed a dog in the 1500 block of Shields Place, police said.When Officer Dixon arrived at the scene, the dog charged him.The officer fired one shot, hitting the dog in the chest, police said.

An off-duty city police officer discharged his weapon after he was approached by another man while sitting in his car in North Baltimore, a police spokesman said. The officer was sitting in his vehicle in the 500 block of Harwood Ave. near York Road with his pregnant girlfriend at about 8 p.m. when a man entered the car, said police spokesman Det. Kevin Brown. The officer and the other man got into a scuffle and, at some point, the off-duty officer fired his weapon. Brown did not know how many shots were fired or whether the other man had a gun. The suspect is in custody and cooperating, but police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said he had not been charged.

It's easy to forget that when you drive on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway south of Fort Meade, you're in a federal park. The speed limit drops to 45 mph, encouraging you to enjoy the "Gateway to our Nation's Capital" on this "scenic" 29-mile stretch of asphalt. It's also easy to forget that once in this "park," the laws change from state to federal. And that meant, before February when the law changed, that carrying a gun on federal property was strictly prohibited. Even if you had a conceal-carry permit from the Maryland State Police.