Park Police

Two teen-agers died in a fiery car crash on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway early yesterday after being chased for five miles by U.S. Park Police, authorities said. A 17-year-old passenger in the Dodge Neon survived the accident near Route 32, where the car sped out of control and hit a tree before igniting, police said. The crash closed the northbound lanes of the parkway between Routes 198 and 32 for five hours. The pursuit began about 3 a.m. near the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, police officials said.

The driver of a Toyota Camry was killed early yesterday when the car left the roadway on northbound Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Laurel, struck a tree and burst into flames, according to the U.S. Park Police in Washington. The victim's identity, including gender, was being withheld pending notification of relatives, police said. Police said the accident occurred about 4 a.m. just north of Route 197 (Laurel Bowie Road). The driver, who was the lone occupant of the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police seize cocaine behind houseCounty police seized five pieces of suspected crack cocaine, valued at $120, and a small plastic bag with suspected crack residue Monday at 7:30 p.m. behind a house in the 1800 block of Richfield Drive.Residents called police after they saw a group of juveniles drop something. No arrests were made and police said they have no suspects.Park Police equipment to be shown in OdentonThe U.S. Park Police will exhibit equipment at Brockbridge Shopping Center in Odenton from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 21.The exhibition will include police horse, canine, motorcycle and cruiser units, an aviation crew, and a pilot and paramedic simulation.

A U.S. Park Police officer was dragged about 40 feet when his cruiser was struck from behind during a traffic stop Tuesday on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in an accident that shut down the highway between Route 197 and Powder Mill Road for most of the morning rush, authorities said. According to police, the officer had stopped a southbound car about 7:37 a.m. half a mile south of Route 197. While the officer was standing at the driver's-side window, his cruiser was struck from behind on the right shoulder by a pickup truck that had left the roadway, said Lt. Dennis Maroney of the Park Police.

A 19-year-old Baltimore man was killed early yesterday and two other people were critically injured when their van hit a tree on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, U.S. Park Police reported.Police said the green Chevrolet Gladiator van was headed south at about 6: 30 a.m. when it left the road and crashed into a tree on the west side of the parkway just south of Route 175, said Park Police Lt. Jackie Burks.Rescuers from the Anne Arundel County fire department and Park Police freed the driver, Bridget Yolanda Wilson, 31, of Baltimore and her two passengers, Donovan Edward Brooks, 15, and Rafael Monroe Jones, 19, from the wreckage.

An $80,000 BMW that had been stolen during a Feb. 18 carjacking and murder of a wealthy Baltimore businessman was found over the weekend in New Jersey, U.S. Park Police reported yesterday.The car, a top-of-the-line black BMW-750iL model that had been stolen from J. Schuyler Alland, was recovered Saturday in a small city -- but park police would not identify the location."Only the killer knows where he put it, and it's to our advantage to keep some details secret right now," said a park police detective, who asked not to be named.

U.S. Park Police yesterday released the names of three young Washington women whose bodies were found at the edge of a wildlife refuge near Laurel, but continued to be tight-lipped about possible motives or suspects in the killings.The bodies of Tamika Black, 19, of Northwest Washington; Tanji Jackson, 21, of Northeast Washington; and Mishonn Chinn, 23, of Southeast Washington, were found about 4:30 a.m. Saturday by a motorist in a public road next to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, a 13,000-acre tract in Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties.

An unidentified woman was killed Friday night when she was struck by a sport utility vehicle after walking into traffic at Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Route 202 in Landover, police said yesterday. The woman was white, age 25 to 30, small in stature with medium-length brown hair. She was struck about 10:20 p.m. by a red or burgundy SUV, which did not stop, police said. Witnesses are asked to call Detective Robert Scherr of the U.S. Park Police at 202-610-8740 or 301-344-4520.

Howard County police were hoping to make a handful of arrests during recent training exercises with the Maryland National Capitol Park Police in North Laurel.Instead, they nabbed 12 men on charges of soliciting sex -- about the average for a full-scale sting operation."We were expecting to share our time between the training and the actual running of the detail," said Lt. Tim Branning, who heads the Howard County vice and narcotics unit. "We were pleased."For three days last week, eight Howard County detectives trained eight officers from the Maryland National Capitol Park Police on how to conduct prostitution sting operations.

Eight local and federal police agencies agreed yesterday to coordinate their resources to catch escapees from the D.C.-run Oak Hill Youth Detention Center in Laurel, thus easing fears in neighboring communities.The 18-point agreement worked out by U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer marks the first time a written notification policy has been put in effect and ends what police officials described as a haphazard way of finding escaped youths."It is excellent," said U.S. Park Police Sgt. Gregory Brown, who was assigned in 1992 to the district that includes the maximum-security prison at Route 32 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.