Van

A Papa John's Pizza delivery man was robbed at gunpoint and his van stolen early yesterday after he made a delivery in the 300 block of Jena Circle, Odenton, county police said.Warren Eugene Poole, 35, was heading back to his van before 1 a.m. yesterday when a man wielding a handgun approached him asking for money and keys to his van, police said.Poole gave the man $22 and his keys, and the man got into the van and drove away.Pub Date: 10/28/97

A van carrying 17 church members ran a stop sign in East Baltimore yesterday evening and overturned, injuring five adults and six children, city police said.The van, which was heading north on Caroline Street, went through the intersection at Lanvale Street and was hit by a car traveling east on Lanvale. The van then struck three cars parked on Caroline and overturned, police said. Charges are pending against the van's driver, they said.The 11 injured passengers were taken to Church Hospital and Johns Hopkins Hospital, but none of the injuries was life-threatening.

A 22-year-old man died Saturday evening at Maryland Shock Trauma Center from injuries after he was struck by a van May 10 after an argument with two men near his West Baltimore home, city police said. Alvin Parson of the first block of N. Gorman Ave. was seen arguing with two men about 12:30 a.m., shortly before he was struck by a van occupied by the pair, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman. Moses said witnesses gave police a description of the van and its license plate number and that a short time later police issued traffic citations to the van's owner, 47, and the passenger, 24, charging them with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident.

The northbound lanes of Interstate 95 near Aberdeen were shut for more than an hour yesterday evening after a van carrying six Virginia residents blew a tire and flipped over, state police reported. Two passengers were in serious condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, and the driver, Grober Claros, 32, of Arlington, was taken to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, police said. The others were treated at the scene. Tfc. Jake Cameron said the Ford Aerostar van blew the tire and crashed just north of the Maryland House service area about 5:45 p.m., coming to rest on its roof in the highway's grass median.

A collision between a van and a taxicab at a Northwest Baltimore intersection sent 15 people to six area hospitals last night - all with injuries that were not life-threatening, city police said. About 9:30 p.m., the van carrying an unknown number of passengers collided with the cab at Sequoia Avenue and Hilton Road, causing injuries to the passengers and drivers of both. At least seven city Fire Department ambulances responded to the scene. The cause of the accident remained under investigation, police said.

A deliveryman for a South Baltimore doughnut company was dragged to his death Tuesday night after a hijacker stole his truck outside a restaurant on East Patapsco Avenue.The hijacker escaped when the van went out of control several blocks away in the 3900 block of Fairhaven St. in Curtis Bay and struck two parked cars.Pronounced dead was Alonzo Coats, 64, of the 3300 block of E. Monument St. Mr. Coats was dragged more than 200 feet while stuck under the vehicle.Sgt. O. B. McCarter of the Southern District said Mr. Coats, a deliveryman for Fogler's Donuts in the 800 block of E. Patapsco Ave., was delivering doughnuts to the Central Restaurant in the 900 block of E. Patapsco Ave. around 11:50 p.m. when an unidentified man entered the van while it was parked out front.

A 45-year-old Arnold man was charged with assault with intent to murder after a shotgun blast was fired into a van containing relatives and friends Tuesday evening, police said. One of the shotgun pellets grazed a 9-year-old boy. The child was not seriously injured. Paramedics treated him at the scene. The shooting occurred about 6 p.m. after a dispute over rent money, police said. Witnesses told police that before Robert Alexander Coates of the 1400 block of Middletown Road fired one round from a 12-gauge shotgun into the van's side panel, he shouted that he was going to kill them all.

The Urban Rural Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides transportation for Howard County's elderly and handicapped, lost one of its 22 vans in a one-alarm fire in Ellicott City Wednesday.A home and two other vehicles were also damaged.The driver of the van discharged its only passenger shortly after 4 p.m. in the 4000 block of Old Columbia Pike when he noticed smoke coming from under the hood, said Sgt. Robert Wiseman, spokesman for the county's Department of Fire and Rescue Services.

There comes a sobering moment in every man's existence when he realizes that he's already seen the best life has to offer, and that everything from this point on is a long, dark slide into the cold ground.That time has arrived for me. I'm buying a van.Plymouth Voyager, Toyota Previa, Dodge Caravan . . . what difference does it make? My life is over.Four-speed overdrive transmission, 3.0-liter V6 engine, wood-grain side panels, extended luggage rack . . . so what?What did the author William Styron call the gloom that came to envelope him?

BALTIMORE -- A deliveryman for a south Baltimore doughnut company was dragged to his death last night after a hijacker stole his truck outside a restaurant on East Patapsco Avenue.The hijacker escaped when the van went out of control several blocks away in the 3900 block of Fairhaven St. in Curtis Bay and struck two parked cars.Pronounced dead was Alonzo Coats, 64, of the 3300 block of E. Monument St. Mr. Coats was dragged more than 200 feet while stuck under the vehicle.Sgt. O.B. McCarter of the Southern District said Mr. Coats, a deliveryman for Fogler's Donuts in the 800 block of E. Patapsco Ave., was delivering doughnuts to the Central restaurant in the 900 block of E. Patapsco Ave. around 11:50 p.m. yesterday when an unidentified man entered the van while it was parked out front.