Vehicular Homicide

A 22-year-old former high school and small college football star who had aspirations of playing professionally pleaded guilty Monday to negligent homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol for the November accident that killed his younger brother's best friend and River Hill High School teammate. David Erdman, of the 4300 block of Heritage Hill Lane in Ellicott City, was driving his brother Thomas and friend Steven Dankos home from a party in the early morning hours of Nov. 29 when he lost control of his pickup truck on Folly Quarter Road in Glenelg.

A grand jury on Thursday indicted the driver state police said was high on drugs when his car sped into downtown, striking and killing a pedestrian before it overturned outside City Hall. Johnny Johnson, 43, faces nine counts, including vehicular homicide and homicide by vehicle while under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance, in the April 9 death of city finance employee Matthew Hersl. The indictment mirrors many of the charges the Maryland State Police filed on the warrant they used to arrest Johnson on April 15. Test results showed drugs were in Johnson's system at the time of the crash, while investigators found cocaine and heroin in his car, police said.

A teen-ager was indicted yesterday on a charge of vehicular homicide in the death of a Maryland Institute, College of Art student, the Baltimore State's Attorney's office said.On Sept. 10, the youth, who did not have a valid driver's license, was operating a 1999 Nissan that was being pursued by police for traffic violations, the prosecutor's office said. He was traveling westbound on 27th Street at St. Paul Street when the Nissan struck a Honda Civic broadside. Marc David Levy, 21, the driver of the Honda, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The NBC station in Washington, D.C., is reporting that Charles Smith, a former basketball star at Georgetown University in the late 1980s, was shot inside his Bowie home Thursday afternoon. Smith was shot twice in the chest in the 13200 block of Lansdales Hope Way, according to the report. He was hospitalized in critical-but-stable condition and underwent surgery Thursday afternoon. Prince George's County police are searching for a single gunman, NBC News4 reported The Big East Player of the Year and a consensus All American in 1989, Smith played guard for Georgetown from 1985 to 1989.

An alcohol-related drag race was apparently the cause of a head-on collision in Crownsville that left one man dead and another charged with vehicular homicide, Anne Arundel County police said. Police said three drivers were speeding south on Generals Highway early Thanksgiving Day when one of them, Byron H. Hernandez of Housley Road in Annapolis, crossed into the northbound lanes to pull ahead of the others. Near the intersection of Belvoir Farms Road, Hernandez's 1991 Honda CRX smashed into a 2001 Jeep Ranger, police said.

A former Westminster man was arrested yesterday and held without bail on 28 charges, including auto manslaughter and vehicular homicide while intoxicated, in a fatal collision on Route 140 near Taneytown in April.Jeffrey B. Quante IV, 26, of Hanover, Pa., also was charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence of controlled dangerous substances in the head-on crash, in which one man was killed and six people were seriously injured.Court records show that police believe Quante had left the scene of a burglary a short time before his Toyota pickup truck crossed the center line on Route 140 east of Tyrone Road on April 6 and slammed into a maroon Dodge van.The driver of the van, Richard Robinson, 28, of Randallstown, died at the scene.

A county grand jury yesterday indicted a Severna Park man on a charge of vehicular homicide in connection with a March accident that killed a 67-year-old woman.Charles George Dan Jr., 56, of the 300 block of Lynwood Drive was charged with drunken driving and driving under the influence of alcohol after the March 17 accident that killed Adeline Louise Jex, 67, of the 500 block of Old Pasture Lane in SevernaPark.Police said Jex was walking to meet her granddaughter and accompany her home from a friend's house at 9:34 p.m. when she was hit by a car heading north on Lynwood Road.

A 36-year-old Annapolis man was sentenced to a year in jail for vehicular homicide while intoxicated for killing an Annapolis man who was walking his dog.Kenneth James Campbell, of the unit block of Silopanna Road in Annapolis, was sentenced in Annapolis by Circuit Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. to two years in jail with one year suspended. He also was sentenced to five years of probation, three of which must be supervised, and 100 hours of community service.He must pay restitution of almost $4,000 to the victim's family to cover funeral expenses and emergency room bills.

Ex-Hoya Smith guilty of vehicular homicideFormer Boston Celtics guard Charles Smith was convicted yesterday of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crime in the hit-and-run deaths of two Boston University students, and was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison. He was acquitted of manslaughter.Smith, 24, a former Georgetown standout, had been charged in the deaths of Michelle Dartley, 20, of Ridgewood, N.J., and An Trinh, 21, of Placentia, Calif. They were struck on a Boston thoroughfare March 22, 1991.

A 22-year-old former high school and small college football star who had aspirations of playing professionally pleaded guilty Monday to negligent homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol for the November accident that killed his younger brother's best friend and River Hill High School teammate. David Erdman, of the 4300 block of Heritage Hill Lane in Ellicott City, was driving his brother Thomas and friend Steven Dankos home from a party in the early morning hours of Nov. 29 when he lost control of his pickup truck on Folly Quarter Road in Glenelg.

Man charged in shootings 3 A 21-year-old man has been arrested and faces 31 criminal counts in connection with a quadruple shooting in East Baltimore last month. Police say David Hunter of the 300 block of E. 33rd St. was one of the suspects who opened fire on a group of men Feb. 26 in the 400 block of E. Lanvale St. near the intersection with Greenmount Avenue, wounding three of them: Chervez Kittrell, Vernon Smith and Christopher Horne. A fourth man, Charles Goodman, was shot as he ran toward the scene.

Delaware State Police arrested a 28-year-old man on probation for a 2004 fatal drunken driving accident and charged him yesterday with vehicular homicide in the death of a Maryland teen last weekend. Andrew R. Rankin was taken into custody immediately after he was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. He was sent to the Delaware Corrections Center in Smyrna, with bail set at $11,000. As a condition of bail, he has been ordered not to drive. In addition to vehicular homicide, Rankin, a New Castle, Del., resident, was charged with two counts of vehicular assault and driving under the influence in the crash near Dover, Del., that claimed the life of 17-year-old Brian A. Wilson of Havre de Grace.

Mich. man indicted in fatal crash A Michigan man has been indicted on vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges in an auto crash in Ohio that killed a Parkville mother and four children Dec. 30. A Lucas County, Ohio, grand jury on Wednesday indicted Michael P. Gagnon, 24, of Adrian, Mich., on five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and two counts of aggravated vehicular assault. He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Killed in the crash were Bethany L. Griffin, 36; Jordan Griffin, 10; Vadie Griffin, 8 weeks; Haley Burkman, 10; and Lacie Burkman, 7. Griffin's husband, Daniel Griffin Jr., and two other children were injured.

A 31-year-old Columbia woman surrendered yesterday after a Howard County grand jury indicted her on charges of vehicular homicide, drunken driving and speeding. Maricela Knight was driving a 2005 Nissan Maxima when it plowed through a guardrail, hit several trees and overturned on an embankment about 2:20 a.m. Sept. 23. Her husband, Andrew T. Knight, 27, was killed in the one-car crash on Route 175 near Tamar Drive. He was thrown from the rear seat. His wife was driving Police said Maricela Knight, a resident of the 6300 block of Gray Sea Way, was driving 70 mph in a 50-mph zone, according to the indictment.

Towson man guilty in hit-and-run death A 29-year-old Towson man pleaded guilty yesterday to automobile manslaughter in a hit-and-run crash that killed a construction worker this year on the Baltimore Beltway, a Baltimore County prosecutor said. Jeffrey A. Ziegler admitted during a hearing in Baltimore County Circuit Court to being the driver of a 1982 BMW that struck and killed William M. Ruffin about 5:30 a.m. Jan. 29 on the inner loop of the Beltway at York Road, according to Allan J. Webster, an assistant state's attorney.

A police officer who didn't realize how seriously a victim was injured and a prosecutor's maternity leave were among the factors that enabled an Ellicott City woman to avoid a vehicular homicide charge after killing a motorcyclist in a drunken-driving accident, Howard's top prosecutor said. Susan Elizabeth Williams, 35, could be sentenced to up to a year in jail after her conviction Monday of driving under the influence, the most serious charge that remained after a Howard County Circuit Court judge dismissed motor-vehicle homicide charges related to the death Sept.