Scooter

Gina Teresa Griffin, 51, was killed while riding a scooter on Interstate 95 late Thursday night, Maryland State Police said Saturday. Few details are available about the incident and the investigation continues, said Sgt. Jeff Kirschner, a State Police spokesman. According to police, a Honda Accord and a scooter with two riders were involved in a crash at 11:53 p.m. on the southbound side of the highway near the Baltimore Beltway interchange. The second person on the scooter, Victor Angelo Huntley, 47, is in critical but stable condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

No doubt you've heard of food trucks, but Casey Dyson is taking the traveling food trend to another level with CookieRide -- a self-described “mobile cookie jar.” “I knew I wanted to do something with food,” she says. “I liked the idea of cupcake trucks and the hominess of products such as cupcakes and cookies, but I felt like there were a lot of cupcake trucks out there.” So Dyson, a former baker at Touché Touchet Bakery in Columbia, decided to focus on cookies and opted for a scooter because it's more eco-friendly than a truck.

First came the food trucks. Now, there's a cookie scooter. Back in June, Columbia resident Casey Dyson launched CookieRide, which sells home-baked cookies from an environmentally-friendly scooter. Dyson has been bringing CookieRide to Columbia gathering spots like Lake Kittamaqundi, office parks and outdoor pools. CookieRide also deliver cookies -- as well as pastry platters, brownies and gift baskets -- to homes and businesses year-round, but curbside sales will wrap up in November and resume next March.

Firefighters from the Rivers Park Fire Station had only one question for Casey Dyson as they sampled home-baked cookies from her fledgling delivery service: Does she pack cold milk on her scooter? Dyson, a Columbia resident who launched CookieRide in August after four months of paperwork and preparation, carries six varieties of cookies - but no beverages. The firefighters at the Old Columbia Road station gave their approval to her quarter-pound chocolate chip cookies and smaller Power Bites - an original recipe made of nuts, flax seed, and dried blueberries and cherries that was inspired by a physical therapist seeking a snack high in antioxidants.

Baltimore County police are investigating a fatal accident involving a Harford County driver on a scooter in Parkville early Saturday morning. Shawn Appel, 30, of the 2500 block of Shuresville Road in Darlington was struck at the intersection of Perring Parkway and Taylor Avenue at about 3:12 a.m. Saturday, police said. A Mercury Sable heading north on Perring Parkway collided with the scooter, throwing Appel from it, police said. Appel was pronounced dead at the scene. No one has been charged, police said.

A man driving a scooter was killed after colliding with a car in Dundalk shortly after noon Sunday, Baltimore County police said. A Pontiac Vibe heading west was making a left turn from Trappe Road onto Church Road, while the scooter was traveling east on Trappe Road, police said. The scooter and the car collided as the car made the turn, police said. The 47-year-old driver of the scooter was transported to Bayview Hospital, where he later died, police said. His name has not been released because his family has not yet been notified of his death.

Annapolis has been experiencing a rash of motor scooter thefts as the weather has heated up this summer. Owners have reported some that vanished minutes after they were parked; others were recovered in such bad shape that they were no longer drivable. Police have even recovered scooters they believe were stolen but hadn't yet been reported missing. Police said that in May and June, they received reports of 13 stolen scooters and one attempted theft. They expect scooter thefts to continue through the summer, because that's when the small vehicles get the most use. Barely any are reported stolen during the winter months.

A Baltimore County man died after his scooter ran off the road into a wire fence in Carroll County early Saturday, according to Maryland State Police. Mark Joseph Kinslow, 46, was driving a black Vela motor scooter west on Green Valley Road just after midnight when police said he veered off the road for unknown reasons and struck the fence. Kinslow, of Bero Road in southwestern Baltimore County, suffered severe head and neck injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

When the shuttle returns him to his dorm each weekday evening, Pete DeSouza makes certain the driver doesn't pass the campus intersection where he had a severe motor-scooter accident last month that has come back to him in nightmares. "I actually have them go a different way to take me home because I really don't want to go there at night," said DeSouza, a 6-foot-6, 288-pound Maryland offensive tackle who spoke to the news media Tuesday for the first time since he suffered multiple fractures in both legs in the Oct. 21 evening crash.

The city takes little nips out of its citizens. Richard Horne can tell you about it. He remembers people sitting on front porches on balmy summer evenings. Now the porches are bare. His was emptied last summer, and now the city's reached for its own piece of the action."Barren porches," Horne was saying yesterday. "Go through my neighborhood in Roland Park, go down toward Charles Village, places where you used to see porches with nice furniture, and now they're barren. Because things are instantly stolen now."

A man driving a scooter was killed after colliding with a car in Dundalk shortly after noon Sunday, Baltimore County police said. A Pontiac Vibe heading west was making a left turn from Trappe Road onto Church Road, while the scooter was traveling east on Trappe Road, police said. The scooter and the car collided as the car made the turn, police said. The 47-year-old driver of the scooter was transported to Bayview Hospital, where he later died, police said. His name has not been released because his family has not yet been notified of his death.

First came the food trucks. Now, there's a cookie scooter. Back in June, Columbia resident Casey Dyson launched CookieRide, which sells home-baked cookies from an environmentally-friendly scooter. Dyson has been bringing CookieRide to Columbia gathering spots like Lake Kittamaqundi, office parks and outdoor pools. CookieRide also deliver cookies -- as well as pastry platters, brownies and gift baskets -- to homes and businesses year-round, but curbside sales will wrap up in November and resume next March.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office and Maryland State Police report: Aberdeen Keisha Maria Greene, 33, of the 500 block of Twin Leaf Drive, was charged Thursday with giving a false statement to a police officer. Austin Francis Jones, 33, who has addresses in the first block of Law Street and in the first block of Chartwell Court in Perryville, was charged Friday with second-degree assault. Chelcee Catherine Long, 20, of the 2600 block of Old Robin Hood Road, was charged Friday with marijuana possession and displaying the government ID of another person.

The following is compiled from police reports. It is the Baltimore Messenger's policy to include descriptions only when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have any information about these crimes, call the Baltimore City Police Department's Northern District at 410-396-2455. East Belvedere Avenue 500 block at 5:48 p.m. Aug. 26. Bike stolen from bike rack on rear of vehicle. Owner witnessed theft. 1100 block, between noon and 6 p.m. Aug. 27. Air mattress, floor fan, Sanyo 32-inch TV damaged, but not stolen.

Annapolis has been experiencing a rash of motor scooter thefts as the weather has heated up this summer. Owners have reported some that vanished minutes after they were parked; others were recovered in such bad shape that they were no longer drivable. Police have even recovered scooters they believe were stolen but hadn't yet been reported missing. Police said that in May and June, they received reports of 13 stolen scooters and one attempted theft. They expect scooter thefts to continue through the summer, because that's when the small vehicles get the most use. Barely any are reported stolen during the winter months.

The following is compiled from police reports from the Towson and Cockeysville precincts. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. Cockeysville Reldas Court, unit block, between 12:01 a.m. Oct. 25 and 8:40 a.m. Oct. 27. Boxes containing various items stolen from apartment. Entry through unlocked bedroom window. Timonium Eastridge Road, 2100 block, between 10 a.m. and 11:40 a.m. Oct. 29. Dresser and jewelry boxes ransacked, nothing appeared missing.

In a Mount Vernon back street, signs of a curious revival are evident. Twenty vintage Italian motor scooters are neatly aligned in a row. Their riders, standing quietly nearby, have left no detail to chance in their own appearance. Hair is shaped in a sober blunt cut, bangs low to the eye, reminiscent of the early Beatles. Dark sunglasses mask their eyes. They sport short, boxy jackets. Expressions are solemn. Their stance is as tailored as their form -- with feet turned out and hands held behind their backs.

Lashe and Jermaine have shared the Apollo Theatre stage with P. Diddy and Blu Cantrell. They've lunched with Ananda Lewis and got some dance tips from Michael Jackson's choreographer. And when Arista Records called about a Lil' Bow Wow video, the rap duo had to beg off - they just couldn't fit it in. New York may be their stepping stone to stardom, but at the day's end, the singing siblings return to their townhouse in Essex and get ready for another day at Mars Estate Elementary School.

A teenager was charged Thursday with fatally shooting a 70-year-old church caretaker during a struggle last year over a scooter, a crime that drew outrage not only among the victim's friends and family but from a city reeling from eight killings in a single week. The suspect, 18-year-old James Jeffrey Johnson, lives five blocks from the rented rowhouse of the victim, Milton Hill, who was shot in an alley behind his home on East North Avenue, next to the Ark Church where he volunteered as a custodian.

Gina Teresa Griffin, 51, was killed while riding a scooter on Interstate 95 late Thursday night, Maryland State Police said Saturday. Few details are available about the incident and the investigation continues, said Sgt. Jeff Kirschner, a State Police spokesman. According to police, a Honda Accord and a scooter with two riders were involved in a crash at 11:53 p.m. on the southbound side of the highway near the Baltimore Beltway interchange. The second person on the scooter, Victor Angelo Huntley, 47, is in critical but stable condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.