State Troopers

A teenage inmate at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County who, along with another teen, escaped July 31 and had eluded capture by area police on at least one occasion, was arrested last night in West Baltimore without incident, said a state police spokesman. Acting on information, police from the Regional Warrant Apprehension Task Force and state troopers assigned to the Fugitive Apprehension Unit based in Columbia, surrounded a rowhouse in the 600 block of N. Bentalou St. about 6:30 p.m., seeking Davon Julius, 16, of no fixed address, said Greg Shipley, the spokesman.

A Howard County man arrested this month after fighting with Maryland state troopers at a Westminster house has died at a hospital, authorities said. Anthony M. Casarella, 34, of Glenelg was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m. Thursday at Frederick Memorial Hospital, state police said. A cause of death has not been determined. State troopers encountered Casarella on Dec. 7 at the house on Plain View Drive in Mount Airy after occupants called to report a disorderly man at their front door. Police said Casarella had asked the occupants, whom he did not know, if he could use their telephone because his truck had broken down.

State troopers in Westminster were ordered yesterday to report to Barracks G at the beginning of their patrol shifts, a move designed to enhance communication between command staff and those on road patrol.Sgt. J. W. Long, the morning shift commander yesterday, said the 7 a.m. roll call was the first held at the barracks and it went smoothly.Long said he couldn't resist borrowing a line from "Hill Street Blues," a television show in the 1980s. He ended the roll call saying, "Hey, let's be careful out there."

Troopers from the Westminster barracks made three arrests for drunken driving and issued more than 330 citations and warnings during the four-day Labor Day weekend, including 128 tickets for speeding and 19 for seat-belt violations, 1st Sgt. Eric Danz said yesterday."

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. lashed back at his Republican challenger yesterday, calling Paul H. Rappaport's assertion that Curran told state troopers he would not represent them if they were sued by the American Civil Liberties Union "an out-and-out lie.""He either has zero credibility or he owes me an apology," the three-term incumbent said as the once-quiet attorney general's race became increasingly vitriolic.Rappaport did back down slightly from his earlier statement that Curran himself threatened to withhold state representation in a ACLU lawsuit charging that the state police and members of a drug interdiction team had used race as a factor in conducting traffic stops and searches.

A Silver Run toddler slipped out with his dog and got lost in a brier patch yesterday, setting off a frantic search involving his family, neighbors, state troopers, sheriff's deputies and taxi drivers.Randy Allmon, 23 months, was found in good condition with Max, his year-old Labrador retriever, within 90 minutes about 300 yards from his home on Turkeyfoot Road.Family and neighbors searched for an hour before calling police, said Sue Komick, the boy's grandmother."The boy and dog are inseparable, but they never go into the woods," Komick said.

Holiday effort by state police was no miracleThe Dec. 30 letter "Miraculous arrival of state troopers" candidly stated, in the writer's opinion, that there is a sudden appearance and disappearance of Maryland state troopers before and after the holidays.During the holidays, the men and women in law enforcement throughout Maryland participated in an enforcement blitz known Operation Holiday Cheer.This enforcement was a direct result of a State Highway Administration grant of $70,000. The funds were divided between state and local police throughout Maryland to focus enforcement on drunken and drugged drivers as part of December's National Drunk and Drugged Driving Month.

WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for Paula Corbin Jones told a federal judge yesterday that they will not try to question President Clinton anytime soon about her claim that he made an unwanted sexual advance to her six years ago.At the same time, however, they urged the judge in a new filing to allow them to go ahead with questioning of others -- including Arkansas state troopers -- about Clinton's private life and possible relations with other women when he was...

IF YOU HAPPENED TO be near the corner of Chesapeake and Washington avenues at 2 p.m. Friday, you witnessed quite a show in driver aggression.Just in front of the old Towson courthouse and near the Baltimore County police station, two sports cars driven by young women danced the old cutoff waltz. Seconds later, at the intersection's stoplight, car doors opened, tempers flared and punches flew.County police responded in force -- four cars arrived on the scene with lights flashing -- and an ambulance was called in.The final score: a black eye, a bruised eye and a broken nose.

Two state troopers from the Westminster barracks were awarded Governor's Citations yesterday for excellence and courage for their actions during a domestic violence call in Keymar in May.Cpl. Ronald W. Riggin and Tfc. James T. DeWees received the honors at the Superintendent's Awards Ceremony, which recognizes troopers, civilian employees and others for courageous work.The troopers spoke of trust and teamwork after about 60 recipients were honored at state police headquarters in Pikesville.

Maybe while the four undercover state troopers - identified in a report released yesterday only as "T1" through "T4" - were wasting their time spying on a few peaceniks, other members of their unit were gathering intel on the kinds of people who actually have some power and influence over our lives. Maybe T7 was sent to infiltrate the Center Club. Who knows, maybe Ts12 through 20 were spread out to the corporate boxes at Ravens Stadium or Oriole Park. Surely a T or two could have slipped into the executive dining room of Constellation Energy and given us advance warning of the company's slice of the national credit crisis.

The NAACP can review Maryland State Police documents alleging racial profiling that the organization had been seeking, a judge ruled yesterday - a victory for the civil rights organization in a battle that has raged more than a decade. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Timothy J. Martin decided that a panel of three lawyers selected by the civil rights organization's Maryland conference will have 120 days to review the documents and select those they would like copied. The names of the officers and the complainants will be redacted from the copied documents.

Maryland has agreed to pay about $400,000 as part of a settlement of a decade-old federal lawsuit alleging that state troopers used racial profiling in deciding which drivers to pull over on Interstate 95. The agreement to end what had become known as the "driving while black" lawsuit was announced jointly yesterday by the state police and the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the action in 1998. After the announcement, the settlement was approved by the state Board of Public Works.

A Howard County man arrested this month after fighting with Maryland state troopers at a Westminster house has died at a hospital, authorities said. Anthony M. Casarella, 34, of Glenelg was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m. Thursday at Frederick Memorial Hospital, state police said. A cause of death has not been determined. State troopers encountered Casarella on Dec. 7 at the house on Plain View Drive in Mount Airy after occupants called to report a disorderly man at their front door. Police said Casarella had asked the occupants, whom he did not know, if he could use their telephone because his truck had broken down.

An electronic ticketing system that will allow state troopers to issue and track traffic citations is being tested in Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties and is scheduled to expand within a month to barracks throughout Maryland, state police officials said yesterday. Authorities said that by next spring, the system could include other agencies, such as the Carroll County Sheriff's Office and municipal police departments. "If all goes well, Carroll County will probably be the first county to be fully outfitted with the system," Cpl. Doug Baralo of the state police information and technology bureau told the county commissioners yesterday.

A teenage inmate at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County who, along with another teen, escaped July 31 and had eluded capture by area police on at least one occasion, was arrested last night in West Baltimore without incident, said a state police spokesman. Acting on information, police from the Regional Warrant Apprehension Task Force and state troopers assigned to the Fugitive Apprehension Unit based in Columbia, surrounded a rowhouse in the 600 block of N. Bentalou St. about 6:30 p.m., seeking Davon Julius, 16, of no fixed address, said Greg Shipley, the spokesman.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will announce today that he is nominating Baltimore County Police Chief Terrence B. Sheridan to head the Maryland State Police, moving to replace a commander who had fallen out of favor with the union that represents state troopers, sources familiar with the plans said. Sheridan, 63, who served for 30 years in the state police before becoming county police chief in 1996, is widely credited with helping to stem a crime wave in Baltimore County and with improving community policing methods.

A 20-year-old man was killed late Monday in Edgewood, shot several times in his upper body and found lying in a flower bed in front of a townhouse, authorities said yesterday. The shooting comes on the heels of a nearly 10-year high in homicides for Harford County, when seven people were killed in 2006. About 11 p.m., Walter Antonio Overton was found unconscious by sheriff's deputies in the 400 block of Meadowood Drive. Overton was taken to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, where he was pronounced dead.

Members of a month-old, multicounty police task force focusing on outlaw motorcycle gangs arrested two bikers Wednesday night on gun and drug charges after pulling them over for traffic violations in Baltimore, authorities said yesterday. Danny R. Newton, 36, of the 8100 block of Hicks Road in Jessup and Charles R. Zepp, 22, of the 1700 block of Pine Knob Road in Sykesville - both members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club, according to state police - were charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of a handgun.

When former Baltimore Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris left the force in December and joined the Maryland State Police as superintendent, he promised to dispatch a phalanx of troopers to help the city battle crime. The offer drew praise and applause from City Hall officials and assuaged the anger of some still seething over Norris' unexpected departure. The city police administration, eager for aid, was delighted. But little progress has been made since then, and no extra troopers have been assigned to Baltimore's crime-fighting efforts.