Ugly DUI Bust In WOC
WEST OCEAN CITY – An Ocean Pines man tacked assault and disorderly conduct charges on to his driving under the influence problems this week when he allegedly went on an profanity-laced tirade and assaulted an officer during a routine DUI investigation on Monday.
Around 2:18 on Sunday morning, a Maryland State Police trooper arrested a suspect, later identified as Rodney E. McGill, 49, of Ocean Pines, for driving under the influence of alcohol on Sunset Avenue just west of Golf Course Rd. According to police reports on the incident, McGill screamed obscenities on the side of the road for about 10 minutes during the investigation and continued to yell profanities throughout the arrest.
At one point, he attempted to head-butt and kick the trooper attempting to place him in a patrol car. The trooper sustained minor lacerations on his hand during the struggle but did not seek medical attention.
McGill was ultimately charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct, failure to obey a lawful order, DUI and related traffic offenses. He was taken before a District Court commissioner who ordered him held on a $5,000 bond.
Employees Nab Shoplifter
OCEAN CITY – A local man was arrested on theft and burglary charges this week after employees of a downtown sub shop caught him stealing their bags and held him until police arrived.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Sunday, Ocean City Police responded to Fat Daddy’s on Baltimore Ave. for a reported shoplifter in custody. Upon arrival, the OCPD officer observed a white male later identified as Donald A. Collins, 50, of no fixed address, being held down on the ground by two other men near Baltimore Ave. at Dorchester Street. The officer placed Collins in handcuffs, advising he was not yet under arrest, but was being held in custody while the officer sorted out what had happened.
Once Collins was secure, the officer noticed the suspect had a laceration near his right eye and called for EMS to check on him. While waiting for EMS, the officer questioned the two men who were found holding Collins down on the ground. The two men told police they were working at Fat Daddy’s when they saw Collins enter the restaurant through an employee door, which was closed but not locked.
The two men told police once Collins was inside the restaurant, he grabbed two bags that were hanging in an employee storage area and ran out the same door he had just entered. The two men saw Collins allegedly grab to two bags and chased him as he fled the store. According to the witnesses, Collins ran about 100 feet with the employees chasing him before he ran into the back of a parked truck.
Once Collins reportedly ran into the back of the truck, he lost his balance and fell to the ground, dropping the bags in the process. According to the two witnesses, Collins got up and tried to run again, but was stopped by the two employees, who were able to hold Collins on the ground until police arrived. According to the witnesses, Collins fell on his right side when he ran into the back of the truck, which is when he got the laceration on his right eye.
Before EMS arrived, Collins reportedly yelled without provocation, “I know I did wrong. I took those [expletive deleted] bags. Yeah, it was me. I took them.” The officer verified the two bags belonged to the employees who had chased Collins from the store. One was a laptop computer bag valued at around $50, and the other was a delivery bag valued at around $20.
After hearing from the witnesses, who advised they wanted to press charges, and the unprovoked statements from Collins, the officer arrested the suspect and charged him with two counts of theft under $500 and one count of second-degree burglary.
Hefty Sentence In
Tire Iron Attack
OCEAN CITY – A Pennsylvania man arrested on first-degree assault and other charges in May after allegedly bashing another man over the head with a tire iron during a dispute pleaded guilty this week in Circuit Court to second-degree assault and was sentenced to seven years in jail, all of which but 18 months was suspended.
Around 2:20 a.m. on May 31, Ocean City police reported to the 73rd Street area for a reported fight in progress. Upon arrival, the officers met with a victim who was bleeding from at least one wound on his head. There was also a large amount of blood on the victim’s head, face, chest and left arm. The officer also observed a large amount of blood on the ground outside a unit.
The victim told police he had been struck by a tire iron and the officer found a tire iron a short distance away on the ground. The officer then questioned several witnesses who were friends of the victim. The witnesses told police they were sitting out front of their unit drinking beer and having a conversation when the victim fell asleep in a chair.
Meanwhile, a man later identified as Christopher Lynn Howell, 27, of Mount Wolf, Pa., called down to the group to join him at his third floor unit. Two of the witnesses briefly went upstairs to join Howell while the third witness remained downstairs. The witness that stayed behind with the sleeping victim called up to her friends to come back down and help her wake up the victim.
The other two men plus Howell came back down and Howell allegedly tried to do his part in waking up the victim by screaming at him and pushing him in the chest. When the disoriented victim awoke with Howell pushing him and yelling at him, a brief fight ensued between the two men. The victim and his friends went back inside their unit and Howell returned to his unit.
A short time later, the group heard a loud banging on their door, and when the victim, identified as Ronald J. Nugent, opened the door to see what was going on, he was struck in the head with a tire iron, allegedly by Howell. The police were called to question Howell and they found him covered with a large amount of blood inconsistent with the small injuries they noticed on the suspect.
Howell told a different version of the story to police. He said he went down to unit 109 to break up a fight when Nugent bit him on his finger. Howell told the police the fight was between Nugent and two other men and he only went down to break it up.
However, the evidence appeared to contradict Howell’s story. He was allegedly completely covered in blood on his face, arms and hands as well as his shirt. There were shoes found at the scene belonging to Howell the treads of which matched the footprints on the door at unit 109. When asked where the tire iron was for his car, Howell allegedly told police, “If it’s not in the trunk, then I guess we know where it is.”
The officers did search Howell’s car and did not find a tire iron. Based on the evidence found at the scene and the consistent testimony of the witnesses, Howell was arrested and charged with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, deadly weapon with intent to injure and malicious destruction of property.
This week in Circuit Court, Howell pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to seven years in jail. All but 18 months of the sentence was then suspended and Howell was given credit for 156 days already served. He was also placed on probation for two years upon his release and fined $500.
Scooter Swiped
OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City man was arrested on theft and marijuana charges this week after getting caught riding a hot-wired motor scooter that had been reported stolen earlier.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday, an OCPD officer took a report for a stolen motor scooter from a victim at the 7-Eleven on North Division Street. The victim told police he had last seen his scooter around 3 p.m. that afternoon across the street at the Shell Station. The officer took the report, but it wasn’t until the next day that the case began to unfold.
Around 7:30 a.m., the same officer was on routine patrol in the area of North Division Street when he saw a scooter roughly matching the description of the one reported stolen by the victim. It was described as a yellow Moto Fino brand with black trim and scratches on the side.
The officer stopped the suspicious scooter on Baltimore Ave. at 6th Street and talked to the operator, later identified as William Donald Doyle, 20, of Ocean City. Doyle told the officer he did not have a permit to operate the scooter or a driver’s license, nor could he produce the registration for the scooter. At that point, the officer noticed the scooter did not have a key in the ignition.
The officer asked Doyle who the scooter belonged to, and Doyle said he borrowed the scooter from a friend named Billy. He later gave the officer Billy’s full name, but it did not match the name of the victim. Doyle told police he received permission from Billy to borrow the scooter that day from the Dorchester Street area.
At that point, the officer contacted the victim and told him he believed he had his stolen scooter stopped. The victim provided the vehicle identification number to the officer and it matched the VIN on the scooter. The officer also noticed the scratches from the description provided by the victim. He also noted in his report there was no key in the ignition, but two ignition wires were twisted together, bypassing the ignition switch.
Doyle was then arrested and charged with the theft of the motor scooter. While he was being read his rights, Doyle allegedly said to the officer, “You want me to tell you who took it?” and “It was Billy, not me. I just borrowed it.” Doyle also told police Billy told him he had stolen it, but did not say from where.
During a search incident to the arrest, Doyle was found in possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession charges were tacked on to the theft charges.
60 Days for Cop Fighter
OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City man arrested in September on assault and disorderly conduct after threatening to fight two OCPD officers who woke him from sleeping on a Boardwalk bench was found guilty on a disorderly conduct charge last week in District Court and was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Shortly before 8 p.m. on September 27, an OCPD officer was dispatched to the area of 3rd Street and the Boardwalk to check on the welfare of an individual lying on a bench. There had been several calls to police about an alleged intoxicated man, yelling and cursing at passersby and the man the OCPD officer discovered on the bench, later identified as Jeffrey S. Taylor, 47, of Ocean City, matched the description.
When the officer arrived, he found Taylor sleeping on the bench, and when he woke him, he observed Taylor to have unsteady balance even while sitting, slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. As the officer spoke to Taylor to get his personal information, the suspect repeatedly acted in a hostile manner toward the officer, yelling and cursing and drawing the attention of people walking by on the Boardwalk.
At one point, Taylor stood up and assumed a martial arts stance in front of the officer, who warned him to sit back down or he would be arrested. In the meantime, another officer arrived on the scene and Taylor began to speak aggressively toward the officer. According to police reports, Taylor asked the second officer, “Do you want a piece of this?” The second officer asked Taylor if what he meant by that was did he want to fight the officer, to which Taylor allegedly said, “I don’t want to fight you, but I will if I have to.”
Taylor then stood up and took a fighting stance toward the second officer, and when the officer asked what he thought he was doing, Taylor reportedly said, “I’m gonna beat your [expletive deleted].”
At that point, the first officer escorted Taylor to the ground using an arm-bar takedown maneuver to prevent any more shenanigans. Taylor was handcuffed and arrested for disorderly conduct and assault. The officers noticed Taylor had small abrasions to his hand and nose that were bleeding and they called for a transport vehicle and EMS to treat his injuries.
EMS arrived and did treat Taylor’s injuries, but he refused transport to the hospital. Another officer arrived and took photographs of Taylor’s injuries for the record, and the suspect was ultimately taken to the public safety building for processing. Last week, Taylor was found guilty of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Three Charged With
Spotlighting Deer
BERLIN – Three individuals were charged with hunting deer at night along Stevens Rd. in Worcester County last week after Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) observed them shining a spotlight from their vehicle along the rural roadway.
Around 10:15 p.m. last Saturday, an NRP officer initiated a traffic stop along Stevens Rd. after observing its three occupants shining a spotlight into a field near the roadway. During the investigation, the NRP officers located and seized one loaded .22 magnum caliber rifle, ammunition and a hand-held spot light. The three individuals were identified as Ryan R. Snyder, 25, of Chance, Tammy R. Adams, 35, and James V. Lorefice, 43, both of Princess Anne.
All three individuals were charged with casting rays of artificial light on fields or woodland while having a weapon in possession capable of killing deer. Snyder was also charged with having a loaded weapon in a vehicle. A court date of Jan. 23, 2009 has been scheduled for the three individuals in Worcester County District Court.