Prince George

An man died Saturday after police in Prince George's County used a Taser to subdue him, police officials said yesterday. Seat Pleasant and Fairmount Heights police were called to the 6800 block of Greig St. east of Fairmount Heights about 3:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a fight between a man and a woman. Prince George's County police were called to help transport the man, said spokeswoman Cpl. Debbie Carlson. When the man became combative, police used a Taser to subdue him and he died at Prince George's County Hospital Center in Cheverly about an hour later, Carlson said.

An Army sergeant from Prince George's County was killed when a car bomb detonated near his military vehicle Friday in Ramadi, Iraq, the Defense Department announced yesterday. The death of Sgt. Maurice Keith Fortune brought the number of Maryland military casualties in the Iraq conflict to 14. Fortune, 25, was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, from Camp Hovey, Korea, said Paul Boyce, an Army public affairs specialist. Boyce said Fortune listed his home address in Forestville when he joined the Army in January 2001, but he apparently had no personal ties to Prince George's County or Maryland.

TEMPLE HILLS -- A District of Columbia prison guard was shot to death in his apartment yesterday and a 16-year-old boy whom he had befriended was charged with first-degree murder, Prince George's County police said.Police said Demetrio Thomas Brown, 31, of the 2700 block of Afton St. was found dead in a bedroom about 6: 15 a.m. Andre Lyles of Washington was arrested and charged as an adult.Pub Date: 11/13/96

A series of early morning fires yesterday in Prince George's County kept firefighters busy on Christmas.Five suspicious fires burned in the Bowie area, four destroying cars, said Mark Brady, Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman.The blazes are suspected to be the work of one or more arsonists.Firefighters responded about 5: 30 a.m to extinguish the first automobile fire at Bosworth and Brunswick lanes in Bowie.Less then 20 minutes later, firefighters were battling another car fire a few miles away on Bermuda Lane in Bowie.

Two men were shot to death and one was wounded early yesterday in gunfire that riddled a pair of luxury automobiles in the parking lot of a Prince George's County strip mall, authorities said. Prince George's County police knew of no suspects or motive in the killings, which occurred in the 4000 block of Powder Mill Road in Calverton about 3:30 a.m., said Cpl. Joe Merkel, a police spokesman. When investigators arrived at the mall - which includes a Giant food store, a gas station and a bar - they found a champagne-colored Lexus and a green Porsche with bodies inside.

Two people were killed in unrelated incidents in District Heights, both shot to death during heated confrontations, Prince George's County police reported yesterday.Carnel Edward Chatman, 19, was killed just after 11 p.m. Friday near his home in the 6900 block of Walker Mill Road. Police said the victim had gotten into a fight with a mustachioed suspect, who brandished a handgun and fired once.Mr. Chatman died shortly afterward at Prince George's County Hospital Center.A few hours later, Carla Raquel Jones, 20, of the 6600 block of District Heights Parkway, was shot in the chest when she got into a fight with an acquaintance.

A 20-year-old man in Takoma Park and a teen-ager in Temple Hills were shot to death Monday after arguments, Prince George's County police said yesterday.Brian Grant, 20, was shot three times about 10:20 p.m. Monday after a dispute with another man in a parking lot in the 6700 block of New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park. Mr. Grant, of Hyattsville, was pronounced dead at Washington Adventist Hospital.Lester Craig, 19, also of Hyattsville, was arrested by an off-duty sheriff's deputy shortly after the shooting and charged with first-degree murder.

A Prince George's County officer used excessive force when he jammed his knee into the back of a prostrate bystander ordered to lie on the ground by police who were pursuing two drug suspects, a federal jury has found.Richard Wilson, formerly of Hyattsville, was awarded $40,000 in damages last week after the jury determined that Prince George's police Cpl. Henry Norris III violated his civil rights.Wilson was standing in his front yard in Hyattsville on Jan. 6, 1992, when a police officer pursuing two black drug suspects ordered him to lie on the ground.

The Prince George's County school board is to meet tonight in closed session to discuss possible responses to a federal investigation of the county schools chief, which attracted renewed notice Tuesday when FBI agents seized documents from school system offices. County schools CEO Andre J. Hornsby has come under scrutiny for his dealings with several education vendors, including his approval in June of a $1 million purchase from a company, LeapFrog SchoolHouse, that employed a woman with whom he was living.

The Prince George's County Police Department announced yesterday that it had received unconditional accreditation from the Commission on the Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc., an achievement county officials hailed as evidence of a turnaround in a department that once had a reputation for brutality.The 1,232-member department met the commission's standards in such areas as preventing and controlling crime, effectiveness, efficiency, cooperation with other criminal justice agencies and increasing citizen confidence.