Taxi Driver

A longtime taxi driver was found shot to death in his cab yesterday morning in Northeast Baltimore. Police knew of no suspects yesterday.David M. Lorusso, 44, of the 3000 block of Eastern Ave. who drove a cab for Overlea Cab Co. for 10 years, was pronounced dead at the scene in the 5500 block of Bowleys Lane near Moravia Road and Sinclair Lane about 2:20 a.m.He had been shot once in the head, said Agent Robert W. Weinhold Jr., a Baltimore police spokesman.It...

A BWI Airport Taxi driver was killed last night when a stolen car - taken earlier in the day in a Timonium carjacking - ran a red light and slammed into his Ford Explorer cab at an intersection on the west side of downtown Baltimore, authorities reported. The car, a 1997 Toyota Camry, was stolen about 7:30 a.m. by a knife-wielding man who ordered its 70-year-old driver out of the car in the 200 block of Cinder Road in Timonium after robbing him of cash and credit cards, Baltimore County police said.

At high noon yesterday, in the middle of downtown traffic, more than 35 Baltimore City taxi drivers conducted a unique horn symphony -- using their cabs for instruments.In a 30-minute "Hail to the Taxis" motorcade that began at Camden Yards and circled around to Harborplace, the taxi drivers blasted in unison the horns of their ticker tape-decorated cabs.Drivers from city cab companies -- including ABC, Arrow, Diamond, Independent, Royal and Yellow -- took part in the first-ever Baltimore City Taxi Appreciation Day declared by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

Sued by the woman whose car he hit head-on, taxi driver Roger E. Estes had an unusual defense: He claimed he was being robbed by a passenger at the time.But a Baltimore Circuit Court jury didn't let him off the hook yesterday, levying a judgment of more than $800,000 against Estes and the passenger, Clarence Johnson, for injuries suffered by Angelia Moore of Pikesville.Judge David Ross later reduced Moore's award to $403,875 because of the state's limit on noneconomic damages.Moore, now 30, was driving in the 4700 block of Reisterstown Road on June 20, 1992, when Estes' cab crossed the yellow line and hit her car. She sustained multiple fractures to the lower half of her body, including both legs, and she suffered substantial memory loss, said her lawyer, Howard Needle.

A 64-year-old man was robbed and beaten with his own walking stick after a group of six teenagers and young men attacked him in a parking lot at the Glen Burnie Towne Center late Tuesday night, according to Anne Arundel County Police. The incident was one of two robberies reported in the area within several hours of one another. The man flagged a patrol officer down about 11:15 p.m. to report the incident near the Toys R Us store in the 6700 block of Ritchie Highway, police said.

A second suspect has been arrested and charged in last month's fatal shooting of an Edgewood taxi driver, who police say was the victim of a planned robbery tied to a local gang. Darrell Levon Miller, 19, said during a police interview Wednesday that he knew of plans to shoot a taxi driver before the killing of Derald Howard Guess, 37, a father of nine, police said yesterday. Miller was arrested without incident Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder at the Harford County sheriff's office in Bel Air. Another suspect, Wayne Lavon Bond Jr., 17, of Edgewood, was charged Dec. 11, three days after Guess died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Bringing Out the Dead" will bring pleasure to the followers of Martin Scorsese's always interesting career. Not one of his major works, Scorsese's 27th movie still represents a significant addition to the director's prodigious canon, a series of experiments, homages and subtle references that add up to a glorious viewing experience if not a completely satisfying narrative.Joe Connelly's novel, "Bringing Out the Dead," was adapted for the screen by Paul Schrader, who last worked with Scorsese on the epochal "Taxi Driver.

Harford County officials unveiled a three-month campaign yesterday to squelch gang activity, a week after a second suspect was arrested in what police believe was the fatal gang-related shooting of an Edgewood taxi driver. A handful of loosely organized gangs - their total membership numbering in the dozens - have surfaced in Edgewood, Aberdeen and other areas near U.S. 40 in recent years, police say, with their activity centered on drug dealing. Though they have no known national affiliations, they may display the trappings of well-known gangs, police say. "Harford County is in the infancy of what could be a potential problem if we don't take some steps now," Harford County Sheriff R. Thomas Golding said yesterday after a meeting with county officials.

In mid-December, Kermit the Frog carried Robert De Niro on Saturday Night Live. When the two sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," the plucky green amphibian did everything he could to make the duet work. Focusing his golf-ball eyes on the lethargic superstar's barely open ones, opening his mouth wide to put over each lyric while the big mug next to him mumbled through the words, Kermit kept De Niro in the scene. At one point, he even placed his long green hand on the actor's forearm just to steady him. When Kermit wasn't around, De Niro sank without a trace.