Vehicular Manslaughter

A 3-year-old girl died yesterday when she was crushed between the rear of a van and the car that struck her in the parking lot of a supermarket in Southwest Baltimore, police said.Valisha S. Staton of the first block of N. Kossuth St. was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident in the 3300 block of W. Baltimore St., police said.Last night, a 16-year-old girl was charged as a juvenile with vehicular manslaughter in the incident, police said.Agent Angelique Cook-Hayes said the girl, whose identity was being withheld because she is a juvenile, also was charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident and driving without a license.

Umar Burley was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday by a city circuit court judge after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident in April 2010, when he slammed his Acura into an elderly man's car while fleeing police, the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office said. Officers also discovered heroin in Burley's car after the crash, and he was charged in federal court with drug dealing. He pleaded guilty in that case in June and is expected to receive a 15-year prison term at his September sentencing.

A 17-year-old Brooklyn youth was charged yesterday as a juvenile with vehicular manslaughter in the death of a teen-age girl Oct. 25, police said.The youth is accused of driving a 1989 Ford pickup truck in the 3800 block of W. Bay Ave. about 1 p.m., losing control and veering onto the lawn of Curtis Bay Elementary School, striking Karen Lynn Hayes, 16, of the 3600 block of St. Margaret St. She was trapped under the vehicle and died a short time later at...

Bella Bouffard swam 70 laps Tuesday morning. A couple of teenage boys swam 130 laps, almost two miles. Instead of swim team practice, Bella was raising money for a former swim team member who was killed in a car accident almost three years ago. Bella and the other boys are members of the Fallston Fins swim team at Fallston Swim Club, which raised more than $3,000 Tuesday for the Katie and Wil Brady Memorial Foundation. More than 100 swimmers hit the pool to raise money in memory of Wilson, an 8-year-old better known as "Wil" and a member of the swim team, and his mom, Katie, who were killed in a car accident on the Hickory Bypass in the fall 2008.

A Germantown man pleaded guilty yesterday in Howard County District Court to homicide with a vehicle while intoxicated.William Scott Marcellino, who was charged with vehicular manslaughter on Dec. 16, 1992, was driving his 1987 Dodge truck west on Route 108 when it crossed the center line and struck a 1986 Toyota sedan head on, police said.The driver of the Toyota, Saleem Alam Shah, 60, of the 100 block of Hillside Road in Catonsville, died six days after the Nov. 19 jTC incident. Police said breath tests showed Marcellino's blood-alcohol level was 0.11 percent, above Maryland's legal limit of 0.10 percent.

The Baltimore state's attorney has charged a Harford County 17-year-old as a juvenile with vehicular manslaughter in the hit-and-run death of 7-year-old Tia Crawford on Sunday.The teen-ager, accompanied by his mother, surrendered to Baltimore police early Monday.He was charged as a juvenile with leaving the scene of a pedestrian accident, failure to render aid to a victim of a pedestrian accident and failure to notify the nearest police agency of a personal injury accident, police said.After reviewing the case, the state's attorney's office filed the vehicular manslaughter charge.

A 20-year-old Dayton man surrendered to Howard County police Tuesday night on charges of vehicular manslaughter in a Nov. 28 accident, police said.Police said Justin Dean Wilson was traveling northbound on Route 32 near Burntwoods Road in Glenelg about 6: 55 a.m. when his 1996 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck crossed double yellow lines. Wilson's truck struck a southbound 1993 Toyota Camry, said Sgt. Morris Carroll, a Howard County police spokesman.The driver of the Camry, Mary Lou Shumaker, 51, of the 800 block of Route 97, died at the scene.

Manchester woman sentenced in deaths A Carroll County woman was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for killing three people, including a family of two returning from church, in an accident as she raced at 100 mph to get to a Target store before its closing time. Kathleen Jean McIntyre, 48, of Manchester pleaded guilty in May to three counts of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Shirley Mae Bosley, 70, Tammy Sue Reindollar, 34, and Anthony Norman Thomas, 14, according to court records.

A man accused of trying to elude Anne Arundel County police and then crashing into a Ford Explorer, killing its 60-year-old female driver, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, police said yesterday. Anthony William Kozak, 24, of the 3000 block of N. Dale Lane in Bowie, was charged with the felony Wednesday evening, shortly after he was released from Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, according to authorities. Police said Kozak was speeding through a red light Sunday night on Crain Highway when he struck the 2002 Ford Explorer, killing Phyllis Gesualdi of Glen Burnie and badly injuring her daughter, Theresa Anne Schoolman, 35, of Stoney Beach.

A man suspected of driving a sport utility vehicle that struck a car during a police pursuit Jan. 2. in downtown Baltimore, killing two women, was arrested yesterday on warrants charging him with vehicular manslaughter. Dwight Lamont Williams, 21, of the 500 block of N. Brice St. in West Baltimore, was arrested at home about 6: 30 a.m., police said. Williams was being held at Central Booking and Intake Center, pending a bail hearing. About 2: 15 a.m. Jan. 2, police were pursuing a white Ford Expedition that was involved in a shooting outside a West Baltimore club.

If sheer emotion and raw emotion were enough to make law, a bill making it tougher to get away with just a traffic ticket after killing someone on the road would be a done deal. At a hearing last week before the House Judiciary Committee, family members who lost the most important people in their lives to the bad driving of others expressed sorrow, anger and frustration that a bill providing stiffer penalties for lethal negligence behind the wheel has been bottled up in that panel for many years.

Hundreds of people gathered in Federal Hill on Monday night to remember three young people killed late Sunday when police say they were struck by a stolen vehicle. Holding candles and wearing shirts adorned with the victims' pictures, there were attempts to give testimonials and sing "Amazing Grace," but the group — representing generations from the Morrell Park neighborhood — was at a collective loss of words. Most just needed a shoulder to cry on. "They were just kids," said neighbor Tony Beckner, 40. "You have three kids doing nothing wrong, and you're gonna take them from us?"

"Operating a vehicle" refers only to what a motorist does behind the wheel, Maryland's highest court ruled Tuesday, as it upheld an appeals court decision that overturned the vehicular manslaughter conviction of a truck driver whose accidental gravel spill on a Harford County road caused a fatal crash in 2005. Kevin G. DiGennaro of Dundalk was convicted of vehicular manslaughter after a car driven by Heather Sandmeier skidded on the gravel into oncoming traffic. Sandmeier's son Devon, 7, was killed in the crash.

Ravens wide receiver Donte' Stallworth, signed as a free agent Feb. 16 after missing last season because he was suspended by the league, said today that "it's a daily process" in dealing with his past. On March 14, 2009, Stallworth struck and killed a pedestrian in Miami Beach, Fla. "Now that I'm back playing, it's not in the back of my mind," Stallworth said. "It's something I deal with everyday, waking up in the morning and going to sleep at night. It's a tough situation for everyone involved.

Dennis Jerry Sullivan was on his motorcycle and stopped at a light on Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City when he was rammed from behind by a Toyota Camry driven by a woman whose blood-alcohol content registered more than three times the legal limit. It was Sept. 7, 2003, and a rookie Howard County police officer mistakenly thought the 43-year-old victim wasn't badly hurt. He handed the 35-year-old driver of the Camry, Susan Elizabeth Williams, a ticket charging her with negligent driving.

UPPER MARLBORO - Two men have been indicted in the deaths of eight people who had gathered to watch an early-morning drag race on an isolated road in Prince George's County, an accident that highlighted the popular pastime in that area and sent authorities scrambling for new ways to curb the illegal activity. Darren Bullock, 20, and Tavon Taylor, 18, both of Waldorf, were charged yesterday with eight counts of vehicular manslaughter, as well as reckless driving and street racing, in the Feb. 16 crash.

A 44-year-old Morrell Park man was struck by a car and killed early yesterday as he attempted to cross the 2500 block of Washington Blvd. in Southwest Baltimore, police said.Richard Paul Rolette of the 2200 block of Whistler Ave. stepped from between two parked cars about 1 a.m. and was hit by a 1992 Subaru driven by Willie Demetrius Mayes, 22, of the 6600 block of Ellsmere Place in Baltimore County, police said.Rolette was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2: 49 a.m., police said.

"Operating a vehicle" refers only to what a motorist does behind the wheel, Maryland's highest court ruled Tuesday, as it upheld an appeals court decision that overturned the vehicular manslaughter conviction of a truck driver whose accidental gravel spill on a Harford County road caused a fatal crash in 2005. Kevin G. DiGennaro of Dundalk was convicted of vehicular manslaughter after a car driven by Heather Sandmeier skidded on the gravel into oncoming traffic. Sandmeier's son Devon, 7, was killed in the crash.

Teen held in assault on student A 16-year-old freshman at Baltimore's Homeland Security Academy was charged as an adult this week with setting a classmate's hair on fire at a bus stop and held without bail. Michael L. McBride was arrested Monday at the school, part of the Walbrook high school complex. He was charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. According to court records, two girls were waiting for the bus after school at 3400 Clifton Ave. on Oct. 3 when another student approached one of them and lit a cigarette lighter in her face.

The 22-year-old man who police say was behind the wheel in a crash that killed a Naval Academy midshipman had been pulled over in October for allegedly driving 120 mph on the Baltimore Beltway, court records show. Patrick T. Britton-Harr of Pensacola, Fla., was charged Wednesday with vehicular manslaughter, Anne Arundel County police said yesterday. He could face more charges, police said. Officers on the scene of Friday's crash that killed Charles B. Carr, 20, of Edgewater said both men might have been drinking.