Driving while stupid

Fenton's story appears to corroborate witnesses' and Jayne Miller's version of the James Smith/Kendra Diggs barricade/murder situation: police rescued Diggs from the house, but left her to die on the sidewalk once Smith started shooting.*

One of Wednesday's homicide victims, Joseph Haskins, was the mayor's cousin.* Also TIL her brother Wendell Rawlings was attacked with a sword in 2002.

Allegedly speedballing alleged vehicular manslaughterer Johnny Johnson was indicted today on nine counts.

 Larry Feldman

?!? allegation: that when the State's Attorney's office wanted to speak with Larry Feldman's client Isiah Callaway about one Tavon Davis, Feldman called Davis and suggested Davis deal with him using the "Sicilian option." A few days later Callway was killed in a $2,000 murder for hire.

At first I read this headline as "Charles Street to be closed for 29 years"... which is probably true.

The Spectator is out of jail and Tweeting.

House Republicans locate nards, demand jail tour, O'Malley renews cry for cell-phone blocking in prison,* a topic first broached in 2007 after a prisoner used a cell phone to order a murder from prison. Really you don't need a cell phone for that, any old prison phone will do. But this state loves nothing more than a one-shot expensive solution.

Scan Baltimore picked up --and Fenton verified-- a ridiculous, breathless car chase in the Northeast over a stop sign not fully stopped at and a marijuana cigarette on Wednesday starting at 10:09 p.m. (About 60% through the clip here)

A woman groped and carjacked on E. Fayette.

Guilty pleas from two restroom pickpocket/identity thieves.

The Bloods still exist in HoCo, 18 were indicted yesterday

Spectator Soon Sprung

Cham reports that the Spectator AF James MacArthur made a deal to plead guilty to charges and got six months plus three years' probation, or three years with all but six months suspended, but in any case with credit for time served he'll be free tomorrow. More from Ed Ericsson and Ian Duncan*

The woman killed yesterday by her off-duty city officer "boyfriend" was identified as Kendra D. Diggs, 37.*  The Sun made the rare move of publishing a Justin George photo that shows her body being loaded into an armored vehicle. Neighbors told Jayne Miller of WBAL that Diggs was rescued from the house, but that police left her behind once James Smith, a tactical-team officer, started firing with his service weapon.

Take a minute to look at Baltimore's open missing persons cases.

Drug bust in Greektown: "a convenience store that was selling more than just snacks."

Pooch screwed

 Stephanie Mickles

Harford County school employee Stephanie Mickles was arrested after copious photographic and video evidence was discovered of her fucking the family dog and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. In case you were also wondering, the highest penalty for fighting a dog in MD is three years. Poisoning a dog to death, misdemeanor, $100 fine. 

Also in ArfCo, a man in a minivan is creeping around and stalking children.

A barricade situation on N. Parrish Street, and the barricadee is a 20-year-veteran city officer with tactical training, James Smith, who also had his toddler son in the house. Fenton updates that the situation has ended and the woman who was shot, his girlfriend, has died.

A man was stabbed in the head in a domestic dispute in Upton

Security chief at Baltimore Detention Center has been replaced -- not many details at the moment but more to come soon.
— Ian Duncan (@iduncan) May 7, 2013

Utah kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart told a crowd at Hopkins that shame from her absinence-only sex ed was what kept her from running away from her captors.

Tyrone Brown got life in prison for shooting Rodney Pridget to death at the behest of the BGF at Towson Town Center.

A man in Harwood disarmed a guy who tried to attack him with a sawed-off shotgun on 28th St.

A man was robbed in front of the FOP lodge in Hampden.

A DC officer, Jared Weinburg, was arrested for laundering more than $2 million for drug gangs in Baltimore and elsewhere.

Shorty Davis is running for Lt. Governor.

Drooling grandma

Three men were shot last night on the East side* in the 2900 block of E. Monument St.

Demetrius White was feed after five years in prison with help from the Innocence Project; one Jose Morales confessed to hiring a hit man to kill federal employee Robert Long who was a witness in a theft case against him. Related: the NYT on the difficulties and cost of getting a record expunged, even for the wrongfully convicted.

"A hunk" with a "body that's all that," drooled the grandma of one of Tavon White's bastard children.

Tougher penalties for jailhouse cellphones might (might!) have helped prevent the BGF prison scandal, but guess who let it die in committee?

A feel-good story about crime cameras.* Oh no, excuse me, the "Watch Center" where they watch the cameras. And monitor Tweets and collect data. Conspicuously missing: a discussion of how many criminals the camera/watch center has helped catch, versus the exorbitant cost. Related: trial for the Spectator is scheduled to start on Wednesday.

A man who was shot to death in Rosedale and then crashed his car into a Shell station was ID'd as 23-year-old Robert Wynder Jr.

Two women stabbed in Parkville, one fatally,* and Paul White Jr., the son of the deceased woman, was arrested.

A police chase in Woodlawn ended when the perp's car crashed into a house.

A woman in HoCo, Deborah Castellano, was shot to death in her car.

Good! Six neighborhood associations are suing Texas slumlord Scott Wizig.

Ew, remember peodphile Eric Toth, who installed a camera in the bathroom of his MoCo third-grade classroom, attempted to fake his own death, then fled and became one of the FBI's 10 most wanted after Bin Laden left a vacancy? He was found and arrested in Nicaragua last month,  the Post has more detail on how he spent the last five years.