Police Helicopter

Two men were arrested last night after leading city police and the crew of a police helicopter on a vehicle pursuit on and off the Jones Falls Expressway that ended when one man was arrested while hiding under the porch of a house near St. Mary's Seminary, police said. The other man was arrested when he bailed out of the car on the expressway. At one point, the suspect's 1997 Lexus was southbound in the northbound lanes of the expressway near 41st Street, but its driver turned around as he neared a police roadblock set up to prevent the car from colliding with northbound traffic.

Two former Baltimore police officers injured when their police helicopter crashed last year filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit yesterday against the companies that made and maintained the aircraft's engine, charging the companies did not use "reasonable care" to ensure safety.The filing of the suit in Baltimore Circuit Court comes eight days after another police helicopter crash claimed the life of the officer piloting the craft and seriously injured his partner.Federal Aviation Administration investigators said last week that they found similarities in the condition of the engines of the helicopter that crashed in Northeast Baltimore on July 17, 1997, and the one that crashed Nov. 4 at the B&O Railroad Museum.

Three bank robbers in a Subaru sedan outran nearly 30 local, state and federal police cruisers during a high-speed chase through Baltimore and Washington suburbs yesterday, tossing stolen tens and twenties out the window as they sped down Interstate 95."This guy was just driving like a maniac; there is no other way to put it," said Maryland State Police Sgt. William Hayes, who was involved in the pursuit, which reached speeds in excess of 110 mph.At one point, some police cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring raced more than 30 miles around the Capital Beltway, through Montgomery County and Northern Virginia before the officers realized the robbers had shaken them back in Silver Spring.

I have heard it said more than once in the past week that the Clinton scandal seems to be playing out like a Greek tragedy. But which one? Something by Euripides? ("Hey, Monica, look what you did to my pants! You rippa deez!") Sophocles is more like it. Here's something from "Oedipus Rex" that might apply: "The tyrant is a child of pride who drinks from his great sickening cup recklessness and vanity, until from his high chest headlong he plummets to the dust of hope." (Hope, Ark.) Or this one: "How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in truth!"

I arrived at Ashland and Collington avenues at exactly the same time the police helicopter did, which gave the moment an old familiar feel. The propellers beat against the gray sky. The helicopter stopped, circled sharply, then stopped again, as if dangling by a string, about 100 feet above the rowhouse rooftops. There were several other people on the street at the moment. I was the only one who looked up.I'm just a voyeur here. Over the years, I'd been in this East Baltimore neighborhood to cover homicides -- teen-age boys caught up in a drug war, an old woman who'd been murdered during a rowhouse burglary -- and for a few other stories far less disturbing.

An apparent drug dispute in Brooklyn led to the shooting of two people early yesterday and sparked a "running gunbattle" with police officers that ended with a 27-year-old suspect dead.Ten police officers and the suspect exchanged more than 50 shots during four encounters outside a home and on a nearby street corner. Police said they killed Darren L. Jamison on a softball field when he threatened them with a .45-caliber handgun.It was "basically a running gunbattle," said Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier.

More than two dozen state investigators and rangers combed a square mile of wooded terrain in Patapsco Valley State Park for four hours yesterday, looking for clues in the injury of a state park police ranger found earlier in the day at the bottom of a cliff.Ranger Heather McLaughlin, a 29-year-old member of the park police for six years, was released from the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore at noon yesterday after suffering multiple lacerations and head injuries in an apparent 12-foot fall from the cliff, officials said.

One of five men suspected of pulling an 89-year-old woman from her car and throwing her to the ground before stealing the Buick on Thursday was arrested yesterday after two officers spotted it near Waverly, where the woman lives.Police said they arrested Donald Douglas Hayes, 25, of the 1800 block of E. 33rd St. after following the stolen car for several blocks in Northeast Baltimore with the aid of a police helicopter. Mr. Hayes was charged with carjacking, assault and robbery and assaulting three police officers.

A 15-year-old Sykesville girl was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore after the car in which she was riding was struck by a pickup truck on Route 26 at Klees Mill Road about 3 p.m. Friday.Faye C. Wilson was trapped in a 1986 Ford Mustang for 35 minutes after the collision, state police said.The girl was listed in fair condition yesterday.Officers said the Mustang, driven by Daniel Sobchak, 18, was eastbound on Liberty Road and starting to make a left turn onto Klees Mill Road when a westbound 1988 Ford F150 truck crashed into the passenger's side of the car.Rescue workers climbed into the car to give emergency treatment to the girl before they were able to extract her from the wreckage and put her in a state police helicopter.

County traffic police are investigating a six-car accident in Simpsonville early Wednesday evening that left two women seriously injured.At 6:15 p.m., two cars traveling east on Route 32 near Cedar Lane collided and crossed the center line into westbound traffic. Four other cars also were involved in the resulting crash, police said.Myria Williams, 61, of Chester, who was driving east, and Margaret Bland 49, of Eldersburg, who was driving west, were flown by Maryland State Police helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where they were reported in serious but stable condition last night.

A nearly 20-year-old Maryland State Police helicopter that crashed in darkness and fog over the weekend, killing four people, was not equipped with an advanced electronic system that helps prevent pilots from slamming into the ground in low-visibility conditions, federal transportation officials said yesterday. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said they were still working to determine the cause of the crash in Prince George's County, the deadliest incident in the 38 years state police have been flying medical evacuation missions.

Police seek suspect in shooting of man, 30 A 30-year-old male resident of the city's Middle East neighborhood was shot early yesterday near his home and died a short time later at an area hospital, a city police spokesman said. No arrest had been made and police knew of no motive for the city's 253rd homicide. At the same time last year, the city had recorded 232 homicides, according to police records. Norman Smith of the 900 block of Broadway was in the 1600 block of E. Eager St. shortly before 2:30 a.m. when he was shot multiple times by an unidentified male wearing a black hooded sweat shirt, said Agent Donny Moses, the spokesman.

Two men were arrested last night after leading city police and the crew of a police helicopter on a vehicle pursuit on and off the Jones Falls Expressway that ended when one man was arrested while hiding under the porch of a house near St. Mary's Seminary, police said. The other man was arrested when he bailed out of the car on the expressway. At one point, the suspect's 1997 Lexus was southbound in the northbound lanes of the expressway near 41st Street, but its driver turned around as he neared a police roadblock set up to prevent the car from colliding with northbound traffic.

In Baltimore County Police identify man fatally shot in home invasion in Essex ESSEX - Police identified yesterday a Baltimore man killed in a home invasion Friday night. John Edward Carter, 28, was visiting a friend and her child at their townhouse in the 900 block of Honeywood Place about 8:30 p.m., when several intruders broke in. The intruders tied up the occupants, searched the home and left. Carter broke free and got up to lock the door, police said, but the intruders returned, kicked in the door and shot him. Carter, of the 5200 block of Ready Ave. in Govans, was pronounced dead at Franklin Square Hospital Center.

Responding to criticism by a state commission that they weren't doing enough to protect the shoreline from development, Anne Arundel County officials have launched an ambitious enforcement program, including the use of a helicopter to locate waterfront trouble spots. Last year, the county was rebuked by the Critical Area Commission, which enforces a state law limiting development within 1,000 feet of the bay, for failing to properly enforce the law and follow up on reported violations.

Baltimore police introduced yesterday a new, sleek mobile command post to respond to emergencies ranging from a missing child or hostage situation to a train derailment or, in the worst case, a terrorist attack. Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris said the high-tech vehicle will make police more nimble in everyday law enforcement and "show the flag" in troubled areas. "It takes us from the 19th to the 21st century. We can actually go to the scene and do our work. Anything we do now we can do from this post," Norris said as he described its capabilities.

In Baltimore City Grand jury indicts Zollicoffer's nephew on drug charges Lawrence Hutchings, whose drug arrest by Baltimore police led to a confrontation between the officers and his uncle, City Solicitor Thurman W. Zollicoffer Jr., has been indicted on charges of possession, possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of cocaine. The indictment was returned by a grand jury in Baltimore County, where a special assistant state's attorney, Frank C. Meyer Jr., has been assigned to prosecute the case.

Board of Estimates OKs $11 million police helicopter contract The Board of Estimates approved yesterday an $11.2 million contract for the purchase and maintenance of four new helicopters, giving the city a police helicopter unit for the first time since a fatal 1998 crash. American Eurocopter Corp. helicopters, which police say could be airborne daily by mid-April, are expected to improve drug enforcement and cut accidents caused by high-speed chases. The EC 120 helicopters, which are to be equipped with surveillance technology, cost $4.9 million, and a 10-year contract for mandatory replacement parts costs $6.3 million.

Two former Baltimore police officers injured when their police helicopter crashed last year filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit yesterday against the companies that made and maintained the aircraft's engine, charging the companies did not use "reasonable care" to ensure safety.The filing of the suit in Baltimore Circuit Court comes eight days after another police helicopter crash claimed the life of the officer piloting the craft and seriously injured his partner.Federal Aviation Administration investigators said last week that they found similarities in the condition of the engines of the helicopter that crashed in Northeast Baltimore on July 17, 1997, and the one that crashed Nov. 4 at the B&O Railroad Museum.

Three bank robbers in a Subaru sedan outran nearly 30 local, state and federal police cruisers during a high-speed chase through Baltimore and Washington suburbs yesterday, tossing stolen tens and twenties out the window as they sped down Interstate 95."This guy was just driving like a maniac; there is no other way to put it," said Maryland State Police Sgt. William Hayes, who was involved in the pursuit, which reached speeds in excess of 110 mph.At one point, some police cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring raced more than 30 miles around the Capital Beltway, through Montgomery County and Northern Virginia before the officers realized the robbers had shaken them back in Silver Spring.