Police Stopped

* Elkridge: Route 95 north of Route 100: About 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, police stopped a 1977 Ford truck which had stolen tags on it. Police charged the driver, David Robert Shaw, 32, of the 600 block of Cadbury Drive in Odenton, with theft of a motor vehicle. His license had also been revoked and suspended.* Ellicott City: 3200 block of Sonia Trail: A $500 chain saw and a $50 weed wacker were stolen between 4 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 a.m. or Sunday from Wilder Builders.

Baltimore police pulled over a 22-year-old man for driving the wrong way on a street early Saturday when the victim opened up the door and fell out of vehicle, telling police he had been shot. Lanell Ausby was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police spokesman Sgt. Anthony Smith said. He was one of two homicide victims in the city overnight. Ausby was shot multiple times in the torso around 1:30 a.m. in the 2500 block of Edgecombe Circle in Parklane, Smith said.

A Glen Burnie man was stopped for not wearing his seat belt while leaving Freetown Village Friday, then was arrested on drug charges after police searched his car.Joseph E. Neuman, 32, of the 7700 block of West Drive was charged with possession of crack cocaine. Police also seized his car, a 1995 Nissan.Police stopped the car just after 9 p.m. The driver gave police permission to search his car, and an officer found a small rock of crack cocaine worth about $20, police said.Pub Date: 2/03/98

Cops are starting to talk like the rest of us. The Maryland State Police became the latest law enforcement agency to throw out its cryptic language, directing officers this week to stop telling each other "10-4" and instead just say "OK. " It's a transformation of seismic proportions — veteran officers who in the academy had to memorize the codes and got in trouble for calling in "livestock on highway" instead of a "10-54" will now have revert...

Baltimore County: Timonium Jarrettsville man dies in car crash A Jarrettsville man was killed late Friday when his vehicle crashed into a tree in Timonium, Baltimore County police said yesterday. Robert Kyle Mellor, 19, of the 1300 block of Knopp Road lost control of his 1993 Subaru on Dulaney Valley Road near Pot Spring Road and it hit a tree. Police were called to the scene a few minutes before midnight, and Mellor was pronounced dead after they arrived. Police said the car was traveling at high speed at the time of the accident, which remained under investigation.

Man charged in sexual assaultCounty police have charged a Washington man with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old Washington girl Sunday night in the driveway of a Davidsonville house, officials said.The girl was treated at Anne Arundel Medical Center and released. She told police her attacker drove her to a driveway in the 500 block of Central Avenue about 9:15 p.m. and raped her. The man then drove the girl to Washington and dropped her off, police said. The girl later gave police a description of the car and license tag number, officials said.

County police arrested a Baltimore man and a Glen Burnie man yesterday on charges stemming from an attempted break-in at a Brooklyn Park nightclub.Charles Franklin Rihtaric, 30, of the 500 block of S. Caton Ave. in Southwest Baltimore and Daniel Edward Batze, 30, of the 200 block of Georgia Ave. were charged with breaking and entering and auto theft.Police were summoned to Johnathan's in the 5600 block of Belle Grove Road about 2 a.m. because two men were trying to break in through a rear patio door.

A routine traffic stop Saturday led to the arrest of a Glen Burnie man on drug charges, county police said yesterday.Andre Antonio White, 30, of the 700 block of Monticello Court, was charged with possession of heroin and driving with a revoked license.Police stopped a Jeep Cherokee on Heritage Hill Drive near Bricktown Circle for an unspecified traffic violation shortly after 9 p.m. When the officer identified the man, she found his license was revoked.Police arrested the man, and found four small bags of what later tested positive for heroin in the man's sock, police said.

Howard County police ran their second sting operation this year, targeting convicted drunken drivers who continue to get behind the wheel though their licenses have been revoked.By 5 p.m. yesterday, police had caught 16 illegal drivers as they left appointments with their probation monitors, said police spokesman Sgt. John Superson.About 165 people were sent notices to come to District Court for appointments between noon and 5: 45 p.m. yesterday. Police stopped those who got into their cars after their appointments and started to drive away.

County police arrested an Annapolis man Sunday on charges of stealing a car license tag.Theodore Albert Gilman, 29, of the 1200 block of Marda Lane was charged with theft.Police stopped a 1981 Toyota Celica that was traveling south on Ritchie Highway near Aquahart Road in Glen Burnie shortly after 4: 30 p.m. because it had no front tag, police said.The driver told Officer Michael Galligan that the tag that was on the car did not belong to him, police said, but that he found it in his yard.

Ravens running back Ray Rice probably didn't have much free time this week to begin with, as the Ravens play the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday. But he had to spend part of Tuesday explaining a recent tweet anyway. Rice posted on Twitter Monday night that he was pulled over by a Baltimore County police officer because of the dark windows in his white Range Rover. Maryland State law prohibits car windows from being tinted at more than 35 percent, a limitation enacted primarily to ensure police officers can see inside vehicles as a safety measure.

Police officers in 108 law enforcement agencies in Maryland pulled over 871,631 vehicles in 2009. White motorists were stopped 451,450 times, or 51.9 percent. Black motorists were stopped 333,487 times, or 38.3 percent. Maryland has 5.7 million residents, 63 percent of whom are white and 30 percent of whom are black. Little has changed since state authorities began collecting information on traffic stops back in 2002, when data then showed that 40 percent of all drivers pulled over by police were black.

In a decision that could make it easier for citizens to record police officers in Maryland, a Harford County judge ruled Monday that state police and prosecutors were wrong to arrest and charge a man for taping his own traffic stop and posting it on the Internet. Circuit Court Judge Emory A. Plitt Jr.'s ruling helps clarify the state's wire tap law and makes it clear that police officers enjoy little expectation of privacy as they perform their duties. "Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public," Plitt wrote.

Anthony Graber is facing felony charges today. His crime? Recording a traffic stop with a video camera — supposedly prohibited in Maryland under an archaic "anti-wiretapping" statute that is well past due for a revisit by the General Assembly. Mr. Graber was riding his motorcycle on I-95 in Maryland, speeding and popping wheelies and recording the experience with a helmet cam. An unmarked car cut him off as he slowed for traffic, and a man in a sweatshirt and jeans jumped out with a gun in his hand.

I think people have the right to record in public, especially when it has to do with the police. There are often times police use excessive force. I feel police hide behind their badge and gun thinking that they have the right to harm people. Second of all, I think when it comes to trying to calm a crowd full of people down that someone should be recording. You never know what you're going to really see on tape because the police don't want you to see everything. It's like they are hiding something.

Arundel driver charged after pedestrian is hit An Anne Arundel County motorist was charged with assault after allegedly striking a pedestrian who yelled at him to slow down in a Pasadena neighborhood, Anne Arundel County police said Thursday. About 7 p.m. Wednesday, a man in the 900 block of Longview Ave. yelled at a driver who had spun his van's wheels and driven recklessly through the neighborhood, according to police. The van left the scene but returned a short time later. As the man and the driver of the van argued, the man's dog walked in front of the van, and he went to get his pet, police said.

A man driving a car reported stolen in Reston, Va., fled when cornered by police in the east Columbia Village of Kings Contrivance early yesterday morning, police said.Police stopped a man driving a 1984 Honda Accord about 5: 30 a.m. yesterday for making an illegal left turn at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Corridor Road, said Sgt. Steven Keller of the Howard County Police Department. The man gave the officer a false name and then drove off.Police chased the man through Anne Arundel County and then back into Howard County, Keller said.

Baltimore police arrested a man on charges of drug dealing yesterday and seized narcotics from his car, and more drugs and $61,000 cash from his apartment in Baltimore County, a spokeswoman said.The man is suspected of supplying cocaine to the northeastern, eastern and southwestern sections of the city, said Agent Ragina Cooper, a police spokeswoman.Cooper said the man was arrested about 1 p.m. when police stopped his car in Northeast Baltimore. She said several ounces of cocaine were found in a hollowed-out section of the car's steering column.

Actions speak louder than words. That's why putting more police on the streets around the Inner Harbor and downtown was the only way city police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III was going to allay concerns about safety at Baltimore's premier tourist attraction and in surrounding neighborhoods after a recent rash of seemingly random acts of violence by unruly teenagers. It's one thing to talk about an overall drop in crime in the area, but people can't see a statistic. To really make them feel safe you've got to show them there are more than enough police on duty to keep a lid on things and ensure that everyone has a good time.

police reports in baltimore city and county: Northeastern Baltimore Shooting A man, 23, was walking in the 2400 block of Belair Road about 8 p.m. Saturday when he was shot in the face by one of two men who fled on foot. The victim ran into a nearby grocery store, whose employees called police. The man was reported in serious condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital. No arrests had been made. Northern Baltimore Robbery try/shooting Police were seeking a man armed with a shotgun who shot another man, 44, in the buttocks about 11:45 p.m. Saturday in the 400 block of E. 32nd St. during an attempted robbery.