Pickup Truck

Teacher sentenced for threatening notes A sixth-grade teacher was sentenced yesterday to nine months in jail plus nine months of home detention for writing threatening notes to five students with messages such as, "Tick Tock Tick Tock. Is it a bomb or is it a clock?" Michelle J. Dohm, 42, of Thurmont didn't acknowledge guilt or remorse during the hearing but expressed sympathy for the students' families. Dohm was convicted by a judge in April after agreeing to a statement of facts that included handwriting analysis and a microscopic comparison of fibers in postage stamps.

Nobody except the driver of a green pickup truck knows who made the first obscene gesture on Interstate 270 yesterday morning. But after an exchange of angry gestures with the truck's driver on the busy commuter route in Frederick County, a Pennsylvania man and woman in a Chrysler Sebring were killed in the crash that followed the apparent road rage incident. The pickup's driver has not been found. The accident near Frederick occurred the same day AAA Mid-Atlantic released a survey showing that by a wide margin Maryland drivers consider aggressive drivers the biggest danger on the state's roads.

FireMount Airy: Firefighters from Mount Airy and Winfield responded at 2: 03 a.m. Friday to a truck fire in the 2800 block of Timber Ridge Court. Fire marshals determined that the fire originated in the engine compartment of a 1999 Ford F-350 pickup truck and was accidental. A 1976 Dodge pickup truck also was burned. Damage was estimated at $43,000. Units were out 1 1/4 hours. School newsWinfield Elementary: Back-to-school night for third, fourth and fifth grades will be at 7 tomorrow. Information: 410-795-6701.

A Westminster man was killed and four people were injured early yesterday in a two-vehicle collision on Route 27 in Mount Airy, state police said.Braden D. Mann, 18, of the 2300 block of Beren Lane, a rear-seat passenger in a Toyota Corolla, was pronounced dead at the scene soon after the crash at 12: 11 a.m. on Route 27 at East Ridgeville Boulevard, police said.Kara E. Rogers, the driver, and two passengers were taken by MedEvac helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.Rogers, 18, of the 5600 block of Old Washington Road was treated and released yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Police found a substance they believe to be marijuana in a pickup truck involved in a deadly three-vehicle accident Monday.David P. Daggett, an assistant state's attorney and member of the State Police Crash Team, said yesterday that investigators must wait three to six weeks for results of toxicology tests performed on the driver of the pickup, Jeffrey Quante IV, 26, of Westminster.One man was killed and six others were injured in the accident on Route 140 near Taneytown.Quante was taken by state MedEvac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where his condition last night had been upgraded to serious, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.

An Annapolis woman and her daughter suffered serious head injuries yesterday when their car was struck by an oncoming pickup truck as the woman tried to turn left onto southbound Ritchie Highway from a U.S. 50 exit ramp.Mary Aytch, 48, whose street address police said they could not confirm yesterday, was flown by MedEvac helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she was listed in serious but stable condition.Her daughter, Pamela Nicholson, who police said was between 10 and 13, was thrown partially through the back window of the 1992 Dodge Shadow.

The driver of a pickup truck cut in front of a school bus outside Annapolis yesterday, leading to a four-vehicle pile-up and a morning rush-hour snarl, police said.There were no children on the bus, which was returning to the Annapolis Bus Co. lot after a trip to Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, said Shirley Brown, manager of the bus company.Traffic was backed up along Aris T. Allen Boulevard from the Riva Road exit to U.S. 50, Anne Arundel County police said.Sheila Harr, the driver of the pickup truck, was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where she was in serious but stable condition yesterday.

A Silver Run man who was involved in a fatal accident on Route 140 near Tyrone Road last month faces charges in connection with a burglary the same day, court records show.Police have charged Jeffrey B. Quante IV, 26, with burglary and ** theft of items valued at more than $300 in connection with a break-in on Tyrone Road on April 6.He was released from the Carroll County Detention Center on $15,000 bond.That day, Quante's pickup truck crossed the center line on Route 140 and struck a van head-on, killing the driver and injuring four passengers.

A 38-year-old man was killed yesterday evening when he was struck by a pickup truck while walking on Fort Smallwood Road in the Foremans Corner area, Anne Arundel County police said.Cpl. Carol Frye, a police spokeswoman, said a small Ford pickup truck being driven north on Fort Smallwood Road near Energy Parkway by Larry Spoone of Glen Burnie struck the man shortly after 6 p.m.Frye said the victim suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.Frye said the man had at least two Baltimore addresses on him but that police were having difficulty contacting the next of kin.She said the accident occurred in a poorly lighted area and that Spoone, who was not injured, told investigators he did not see the man.Frye said the accident will be reviewed by the county prosecutor's office.

Police found a substance they believe to be marijuana in a pickup truck involved in a deadly three-vehicle accident Monday.David P. Daggett, an assistant state's attorney and member of the State Police Crash Team, said yesterday that investigators must wait three to six weeks for results of toxicology tests performed on the driver of the pickup, Jeffrey Quante IV, 26, of Westminster.Quante was taken by state MedEvac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where his condition last night had been upgraded to serious, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A Baltimore County police detective assigned to the Towson Precinct died Thursday afternoon at Maryland Shock Trauma Center after his personal pickup truck crashed and overturned near an intersection by the small community of Cooperstown in the northern part of the county. Pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m. was Detective Jason Simons, 32, a seven-year member of the force, who was off duty at the time, said Cpl. Mike Hill, a Police Department spokesman. Hill said Simons was driving a 1998 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck eastbound on Maryland Route 88 (Black Rock Road)

Three men were shot, one fatally, Thursday night on a street in the Govans community, police said. Two of the victims were found on the street, and the third was driven by someone to a city fire station more than a mile away, where he was given first aid before being taken to a hospital. Their names were not available. Police said no arrest had been made and know of no motive for the triple shooting. Agent Donny Moses, a city police spokesman, said Northern District police responding to shots fired in the 500 block of Radnor Ave. about 9 p.m. found one man lying next to a utility pole near a white pickup truck who had been shot in the head.

Comment puts teacher on leave A Howard County high school teacher has been put on paid administrative leave after making a racially insensitive comment to an African-American student, school officials said Thursday. The teacher, a world language instructor at Reservoir High School in Fulton, has been on leave since March 5, the day the incident occurred, according to school system spokeswoman Patti Caplan. The school system also filed a hate-bias incident report with the Howard County Police Department, police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said.

Glen Burnie fire routs apartment residents 1 A three-alarm fire raged through a Glen Burnie apartment building yesterday afternoon, forcing two dozen families from their homes. No injuries were reported in the fire at the Hidden Woods complex, said Lt. Stuart Peters, an Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman. Firefighters arrived at the scene at 324 Highland Drive within four minutes of receiving a 911 call at 3:27 p.m., Peters said. Thirty vehicles - including 11 fire engines - and nearly 70 firefighters responded.

Arundel school board sends budget to Leopold The Anne Arundel County school board approved yesterday Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell's budgetary priorities for the next fiscal year, adopting the recommended $977.4 million operating budget and the $213.8 million capital budget. The schools budget will be forwarded to County Executive John R. Leopold, who has said it will be "nearly impossible" to fund in full because of expected revenue shortfalls. The County Council must approve a final budget by June.

A Silver Spring man was being held yesterday after being charged in a bank robbery that resulted in the shooting of a teller Thursday morning in Howard County. As Anirudh Lakhan Sukhu made an initial appearance yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, a third suspect remained at large. Police were able to track down Sukhu after discovering his identification in a black Ford pickup the suspects abandoned after fleeing the bank, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

The driver of a pickup truck was injured when his truck rammed the left guardrail on the westbound span of the Bay Bridge yesterday after it collided with another vehicle, Maryland Transportation Authority Police said. The driver of the truck was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center about 4:15 p.m. with injuries that were not believed to be serious, according to Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the MdTA. The driver of the other vehicle was not hurt. One lane remained closed through yesterday evening while maintenance personnel examined the guardrail, police said.

A stolen pickup truck crashed into a house on York Road in the northern Baltimore County community of Hereford yesterday morning, killing a 46-year-old woman who was sleeping in her first-floor bedroom, police said. The impact of the crash that killed Mary Patricia Sullivan took out a wall of the small bedroom and scattered splintered blinds, pieces of pink insulation and jagged shards of wood. A ripped mattress jutted sideways off its bedframe. The driver fled but was taken into custody nearby, police said.

Two people involved in separate vehicle accidents this month in Anne Arundel County have died of their injuries, police said yesterday. Edward Lawrence Paquette, 58, of Severna Park died Tuesday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, and Eric Joseph Bond, 22, of Edgewater died Tuesday at Prince George's Hospital Center, police said. Bond, of the 1200 block Pine Ave., was driving a white 2001 Ford pickup truck north on Shoreham Beach Road near Central Avenue in Edgewater just after 9 p.m. July 6 when he crossed the center line, crossed another road and overturned, police said.

A 28-year-old North Baltimore woman died yesterday evening at an area hospital of multiple injuries after her body became wedged between the passenger's window of a pickup truck and a telephone pole, police said. Police said Patrice Marable, of the 1100 block of Gleneagle Road near Chinquapin Parkway, was in her home and arguing with her boyfriend about 5 p.m. when the man left the house and got into his pickup truck. Police said Marable ran after the man and was leaning into the vehicle's open passenger window to retrieve her cell phone when the man drove off. Police said when the vehicle moved forward, Marable was wedged between the window and a pole it struck.