On this day In Baltimore Police History (1932), we lost our brother, Officer Thomas F Stienacker, to an auto accident based on the following:.
On September 29, 1932, at 9:50 a.m., Officer Stienacker was crossing the intersection of Frederick Avenue and Willard Street. A motorist struck Officer Steinacker as he crossed Frederick Avenue. As a result, he was thrown against a United Railway and Electric Company street car. He suffered a fractured skull, lacerated head and ear. He succumbed to his injuries on October 4, 1932.

As his brothers and sisters of the Baltimore Police Department, we will not let him be forgotten, His service Honored the City of Baltimore, and the Baltimore Police Department may he rest in peace, and may God bless him.

Detective Brian Stevenson

2010 - 16 Oct, 2010 we lost brother police Detective Brian Stevenson, off duty, and not line of duty, but he was our brother and he was murdered based on the following: 

A 25-year-old Southeast Baltimore man has been charged with fatally injuring an off-duty Baltimore police detective by throwing a piece of concrete at the officer's head during an argument over a Canton parking space, according to police. Detective Brian Stevenson, an 18-year veteran and married father of three, had gone out to have dinner on the eve of his birthday when he and Sian James got into an altercation in a private parking lot in the 2800 block of Hudson St. about 10 p.m. Saturday, police said. James was charged Sunday with first-degree murder.

James struck Stevenson in the left temple with a "fist-sized" concrete fragment, according to court records. Stevenson suffered "massive head injuries" and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where he died about an hour before he was to have turned 38.

Colleagues who investigate violent crime in the city — much of it over petty disputes and perceived slights — were struggling to cope with Stevenson's death and were baffled by the circumstances.

"All of them are terrible," Detective Thomas Jackson said of the city's killings. "But a parking space?" Stevenson, who lived in Gwynn Oak, grew up in the city and as an officer investigated shootings and robberies in the Northeast District. He is the first city officer to die at the hands of another since Jan. 9, 2007, when Officer Troy Lamont Chesley Sr. was fatally shot during a robbery while he was off duty in Northwest Baltimore.

Rest In Peace to all of our brothers and sister in the BPD that have lost their lives to the senseless violence of this city. They will not be forgotten, as we their brothers and sisters will keep them in our memories  Detective Brian Stevenson - 16 October, 2010 - Police: Man killed off-duty officer over parking space - 18-year veteran struck in the head with concrete object - October 17, 2010|By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun

A 25-year-old Southeast Baltimore man has been charged with fatally injuring an off-duty Baltimore police detective by throwing a piece of concrete at the officer's head during an argument over a Canton parking space, according to police.

Detective Brian Stevenson, an 18-year veteran and married father of three, had gone out to have dinner on the eve of his birthday when he and Sian James got into an altercation in a private parking lot in the 2800 block of Hudson St. about 10 p.m. Saturday, police said. James was charged Sunday with first-degree murder.

James struck Stevenson in the left temple with a "fist-sized" concrete fragment, according to court records. Stevenson suffered "massive head injuries" and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where he died about an hour before he was to have turned 38.

Colleagues who investigate violent crime in the city — much of it over petty disputes and perceived slights — were struggling to cope with Stevenson's death and were baffled by the circumstances.

"All of them are terrible," Detective Thomas Jackson said of the city's killings. "But a parking space?"

Stevenson, who lived in Gwynn Oak, grew up in the city and as an officer investigated shootings and robberies in the Northeast District. He is the first city officer to die at the hands of another since Jan. 9, 2007, when Officer Troy Lamont Chesley Sr. was fatally shot during a robbery while he was off duty in Northwest Baltimore.

"It's an incredible tragedy for the family, for all of us," Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said outside the hospital, where he and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake met Stevenson's relatives. "The city's losing a fantastic detective who worked to make people safe in this city. It's just senseless."

Stevenson was out having dinner with a longtime friend near Canton Square, and the argument broke out in the parking lot of an eye care clinic. Residents said the neighborhood is typically packed, with some area bars offering valet service and drivers jockeying for parking spots.

Acting on information from witnesses, James was tracked down by officers at a club in Power Plant Live and taken into custody. He was formally charged Sunday afternoon.

Friends recalled Stevenson as a jovial man who was one of the department's snappiest and most distinctive dressers, pairing wild colors and patterns. Jackson, a homicide investigator who worked with Stevenson in the Northeast District, said Stevenson was called "Smiley" because of his consistently upbeat mood.

As a detective, Jackson said, the Baltimore native was able to relate to those he interacted with in the streets. Stevenson graduated from Dunbar High School, Jackson said.

"He loved doing his job, and he made sure his family was provided for," said Detective Sandra Forsythe, who continued to bring baked goods to her former partner after she moved on to the homicide unit this year.

"Brian devoted his life to protecting the people of Baltimore. Like his brothers and sisters in uniform, he deserves our respect and admiration for that commitment," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement. "To honor his life, I hope that the people of this city follow his example and renew their commitment to making every community safer."‪

At the scene Saturday night, neighbor Tricia Zebron said that the neighborhood, between the Can Company shopping center and Canton Square, is typically chaotic on weekends. She said parking spots are hard to come by — her car was parked in the same lot where Stevenson was struck, though there are "private parking" signs posted warning that unauthorized vehicles will be towed.

"It's a circus every weekend here," she said.

But it's also among the safest neighborhoods in the city. Stevenson was the first person slain in area near the Canton- Fells Point waterfront this year.

Walter J. Ford, a 76-year-old retired brewery worker who has lived in Canton all of his life, said he was surprised to hear of a killing in the neighborhood.

"I'm really shocked for this area," said Ford. "Very seldom do we get anyone killed. There might be a purse- snatching or something. Canton's usually very fortunate."

The suspect, James, lived around the corner in the 2800 block of Dillon St. Court records show he was charged in July with attempted rape, third-degree sex offense, assault and false imprisonment. Initially held without bond, he was released in mid-September on $150,000 bond.

Details of that case were not immediately available, and his attorney of record, John Denholm, could not be reached for comment.

Records also show that in late July, James was ordered to stay away from a woman who had filed her second protective order against him in a span of four months. Reached for comment, a man who answered the woman's phone said that they could not discuss James because of an "ongoing situation."

No one answered the door at James' home late Sunday afternoon. Neighbors sitting on their front steps said James lived there with a roommate and drove a motorcycle. He seemed friendly, they said, waving hello as he came and went. Other neighbors recalled getting a knock on their door from a city police detective back in July, asking if they had seen James, saying there was a warrant for his arrest. Still, neighbors said, they never saw or heard any violent behavior.

On his Facebook page, James said he attended college in Jamaica, and he often posted updates praising God.

"People always get the wrong impression of me. Then it turns arround [sic] that [I] am a realy [sic] nice guy," he wrote on the "bio" section of his page.

Dozens of officers in uniform or street clothes stood solemnly outside the emergency room entrance at Bayview Medical Center on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. There was little discussion as relatives of Stevenson continued to arrive deep into the morning.

As one group of officers walked to their cars to head home, they each shook hands and embraced.

"Be safe," they said to each other.

Stevenson was the second active-duty Baltimore police officer to die in the past month. In September, Officer James Fowler died after losing control of his vehicle while driving to a training program in Pennsylvania.

By Sunday evening, someone had planted the beginnings of a memorial to Stevenson in the parking lot where he fell. Two small balloons — one sporting an American flag, the other reading "Happy Birthday" — were bound together with a single white rose and placed in a pot. The unsigned card read: "Rest in Peace Detective Brian Stevenson."

Baltimore Sun reporter Nicole Fuller contributed to this article.

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Baltimore police detective funeral today

Motorists should expect delays in Randallstown, Arbutus

October 25, 2010|By Liz Kay, The Baltimore Sun

At a funeral this morning, family and friends will remember the life of a Baltimore police detective who died after an altercation over a Canton parking space.

Detective Brian Stevenson, who served 18 years on the Baltimore police force, was killed Oct. 16, an hour before his 38th birthday, after police said he was struck on the temple with a chunk of concrete.

Stevenson, who lived in Gwynn Oak, grew up in the city and as an officer investigated shootings and robberies in the Northeast District. The Dunbar High School graduate is the first city officer to die at the hands of another since Jan. 9, 2007, when Officer Troy Lamont Chesley Sr. was fatally shot during a robbery while off duty.

The funeral service was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at New Antioch Baptist Church in Randallstown.

Drivers in the area may experience delays while police in Baltimore County escort the funeral procession from the church, on Old Court Road near Windsor Mill Road, to Liberty Road, said county police spokesman Lt. Robert McCullough. The procession will continue down Liberty Road to the Baltimore Beltway, he said.

Maryland State Police will escort the procession on the beltway to Arbutus. Stevenson will be buried at Arbutus Memorial cemetery, McCullough said.

#BPDNeverForget

Lt. Owen E. Sweeney, Jr. 
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Lt. Owen E. Sweeney, Jr.

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Yesterday afternoon, a shotgun blast fired through a wooden door at a Northeast Baltimore home struck a veteran city police lieutenant who was assisting his fellow officers on a routine call and killed him. Lt. Owen E. Sweeney, Jr., 47, who was one month shy of his 29^th anniversary with the department, was pronounced dead at 4:04 p.m. after more than three hours of surgery at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. His wife and two sons have survived him. Friends say Lt. Sweeney was counting the days to retirement, and had just bought a 28 foot cabin cruiser that was to be delivered next week. Last night, police charged Baron Michael Cherry, 41, of the 5900 Block of Bertram Avenue with first degree murder and using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony… Officers who knew the lieutenant – the first city officer killed in the line of duty in four years—praised their supervisor for favoring street work over paperwork. On Tuesday, he was the first officer to confront a man holding an Uzi semiautomatic weapon during a robbery attempt at the Northwood Shopping Center. It wasn’t beneath him, “because he wore a gold badge, to do police work with the rest of us,” said Officer John D. Platt, a friend and 14-year veteran. Yesterday, Lt. Sweeney was doing paperwork in his office when he heard a call on the radio summoning officers to a house on Bertram Avenue in Hamilton. He quickly joined his officers at the house.  Lt. Sweeney tried to talk to the man behind a closed wooden door to an apartment at the top of a second-floor stairwell. “We’re here to help you, we’re not here to hurt you,” Lt. Sweeney said, according to Platt, who was standing next to him. The officers and Lt. Sweeney turned and started to walk downstairs when the shotgun blast blew away part of the door. Lt. Sweeney, struck in the lower left back, collapsed into Officer Platt’s arms. The officers pulled him down the stairs and outside. Moments later, Platt said, Cherry walked out of the room, unarmed and with his hands in the air, and apologized. He struggled with the police as they placed him in custody.

'It's my fault, I'm sorry,' suspect's weeping wife says of officer's death No guns in apartment, she told police before lieutenant was killed

She forgot about shotgun
Mentally disturbed man held without bail in lieutenant's death

May 09, 1997 |By Peter Hermann | Peter Hermann,SUN STAFF Sun staff writers Marilyn McCraven and Thomas W. Waldron contributed to this article. One of the first questions police officers asked Denise Cherry when they came to help her distraught husband was if there were any guns inside the couple's Hamilton apartment. No, she said emphatically. But she forgot about the 16-gauge shotgun tucked in the back of the bedroom closet -- a gift of more than a decade ago.

Police said Baron Michael Cherry, a 41-year-old mentally disturbed man who frustrated his wife by refusing to take his medication, used the bolt-action shotgun to fatally shoot a veteran police lieutenant in the back on Wednesday afternoon. "It's my fault, I'm sorry," the suspect's wife cried out during an emotional interview yesterday in which she sobbed and offered prayers for the family of slain Lt. Owen E. Sweeney Jr. "I would never have imagined that that weapon was accessible," Mrs. Cherry said, struggling to talk about her husband's good side without offending the victim's family. "When the officers asked if there were any weapons or guns inside, I said no." Police commanders said they would have handled the situation much differently had they known about the gun, calling for tactical officers to negotiate instead of standing outside the apartment door.

Mrs. Cherry, unable to get her husband committed to psychiatric care, had called the police, hoping they could do what doctors could not. Officers were trying to coax Cherry out when he allegedly answered with profanity and a shotgun blast that splintered a closed wooden door and hit Sweeney in the lower back. Relatives of the slain officer were too distraught to talk yesterday, and even asked that police officers refrain from visiting their home in Harford County. Flags in Baltimore were ordered flown at half-staff, and a moment of silence was observed in the State House.

More than a thousand officers are expected to attend the funeral Monday at St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church in Bel Air to pay tribute to Sweeney, a 28-year veteran officer who leapt at every chance to escape his desk and hit the streets. A motorcade route from the church to the interment site at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens has not yet been set. The procession for slain State Trooper Ted Wolf in 1990 stretched 16 miles along the Baltimore Beltway and Interstate 83. Police chaplains went to station houses yesterday and talked to shaken officers, who were allowed to take the day off if they needed time to recover. Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke called Sweeney "an outstanding officer" and said "he certainly will be missed by all of us in this community."

Sweeney is survived by his wife, Elaine D. Sweeney, 47; and two sons, Owen E. Sweeney III, 25, and Frank P. Sweeney, 22. While the lieutenant's family was making funeral arrangements yesterday, District Judge Askew W. Gatewood Jr. ordered Cherry held without bail, scheduled a psychiatric evaluation, and placed the suspect under a suicide watch. The suspect said, "No, sir," when the judged asked if had any comment. Cherry, charged with first-degree murder, could face the death penalty if convicted. But Schmoke said yesterday it will be "a tough call for the prosecutor" because of the suspect's questionable mental state.

Mrs. Cherry, 36, said yesterday that her husband of 13 years suffered a breakdown seven years ago. "He was hearing voices, and [said] there were white worms crawling on his head." Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital had diagnosed him as a paranoid-schizophrenic. Sitting at the kitchen table inside her second-floor apartment in the 5900 block of Bertram Ave. in Northeast Baltimore, Mrs. Cherry tried to talk about the good times with her husband, about how they met at a local bar. She was a customer, and he played the drums in a band called After Dark. Her table was strewn with snapshots of him taken before his breakdown: dressed casually in an open-collar shirt and vest at their wedding; standing at a vacation Bible school with two young nieces; and with his pet Shih Tzu dog, named Ollie.

But the last seven years, in which her husband became a virtual recluse, were constantly on her mind. She said he ventured outside only to walk his dog and went into profanity-laced tirades at television game-show hosts. Mrs. Cherry tried to recall the good times but repeatedly returned to the troubled present. "The first six years were wonderful," she said calmly one moment, only to break out into tears and run from the room the next. Properly medicated, Cherry -- a 1974 graduate of Eastern Vocational-Technical High School in Essex, scrubbed kitchen floors and cooked dinner; without his pills, he became afraid. He ran around the house, locking doors, and calling people whores. "His paranoia is people, and people are everywhere," Mrs. Cherry said. "He thought people were aliens."

Mrs. Cherry said her husband started refusing his medication three weeks ago because one of the two drugs prescribed made him tired. She said she repeatedly took him to the Harford-Belair Community Mental Health Center, where doctors wanted him to take injections. Cherry refused, and his wife said doctors at the center would not admit him to a hospital. Finally, minutes after noon on Wednesday, with her husband growing increasingly agitated, she picked up the phone and dialed 311—the city's non-emergency phone number. Five officers came to the house and "repeatedly asked Mrs. Cherry if her husband had access to a weapon inside the apartment, and she repeatedly told them no," said Agent Robert W. Weinhold Jr., a police spokesman.

Back at the Northeastern District station, Sweeney was at his desk, engulfed in paperwork, listening to the action unfold on his police radio. It wasn't going well, and "he wanted to make sure it was properly supervised," said his colleague, Lt. Carl Gutberlet. Police said Sweeney also asked Mrs. Cherry if there were any guns inside the apartment, and confident of her negative response, she stood in front of the door and tried to coax the man outside. "They were trying to end this peacefully," said Officer Gary McLhinney, the police union president.

Mrs. Cherry, who was standing on the lawn on the left side of her house, said her husband walked over to a window and made an obscene gesture to an officer, who she said laughed. About two minutes later, she heard her husband scream a profanity, which was followed by a shotgun blast and the frantic cries, "Officer down." She said the shotgun had been a gift, and she never saw her husband take it out. She kept the shells in another room, mixed in with knicknacks. There was little evidence yesterday of the violence that erupted at the house a day before. The police took the splintered door away as evidence, and the blood on the side of the house was scrubbed away. A plaque still hung yesterday above the front door, through which the wounded Sweeney was carried out. It says: "Lord, help me hang in there."

Funeral plans

The funeral service for Lt. Owen E. Sweeney Jr. is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church at 141 Hickory Ave. in Bel Air. The viewing is at Schimunek Funeral Home at 610 W. McPhail Road in Bel Air Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The interment will be at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

Pub Date: 5/09/97

Officer Forrest "Dino" Taylor

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Decorated Baltimore police officer dies months after crash 
17 year veteran was responding to a call

September 05, 2012

|By Luke Broadwater, The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore police are mourning the death of a decorated officer who died last week after complications from surgery stemming from a Feb.18 on-duty car accident. Officer Forrest "Dino" Taylor, 44, of Annapolis, died Aug. 29 after undergoing the latest in a series of medical procedures. He had been injured in a crash at a stoplight in Mount Vernon while responding to a call. "Each and every day Officer Forrest 'Dino' Taylor and his fellow officers place their lives on the line to make our neighborhoods safer," Police Commissioner-designee Anthony W. Batts said in a statement. "We will never forget Officer Taylor's dedication and commitment to making downtown Baltimore a better place to live and work." On Feb. 18 at 5:50 a.m., Taylor activated the lights and siren in his police cruiser and traveled through a red light in the 600 block of Guilford Avenue in Mount Vernon while on the way to assist another officer, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Taylor's vehicle was hit by a sports utility vehicle driving through a green light, police said. The cruiser struck a pole and fire hydrant and came to rest in the 500 block of Guilford, police said. Officers filed no citations against the driver of the SUV. The officer was not found at fault, either. Police are taught to use caution when driving through red lights in emergency situations, but that does not always prevent crashes, Guglielmi said. "This was just a tragic, tragic accident," he said. A 17-year veteran of the department, Taylor worked in jobs throughout the agency, including stints as a homicide detective in 2003 and a violent crimes investigator in 2008. He received four commendations from the department, including three for his work with a task force that in 2000 served 4,500 warrants and cleared 150 percent of cases (that calculation includes cases from previous years). Taylor was best known for walking his foot post in the downtown community, police said. He is survived by his wife and two children. "Officer Taylor backed up the quality of his service with his life," Guglielmi said. "He was responding in an emergency capacity to help a complete stranger. It's a sobering reminder of what police officers do every day." Taylor is the fourth Baltimore police officer to die in the line of duty since 2010. His funeral service is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 7, at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen at 5200 N. Charles Street.

Lieutenant William P. Thompson

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W. P. Thompson, Policeman, Dies
The Sun (1837-1989); May 28, 1956; pg. 13

Police Lieutenant William P. Thompson, 48, of 372 Marydell Rd., died early [27 May 1956] yesterday, apparently of heart trouble, while on duty, and in a patrol car within the South-West District. He was slumped over the steering wheel when found at 3:35 am by Sgt. Walter Jasper, at Fayette and Stricker Streets. Police said, Lieutenant Thompson had been receiving treatment for a heart condition but was cleared for duty. He had left the Southwestern Station House (Located at Calhoun Street and Pratt Streets ) at about 3:30 am after helping a patrolman make an arrest, police said.

Natives of Baltimore, Maryland

A native of Baltimore, Lieutenant Thompson lived here all his life, joining the Police Department 17 May, 1933. He was promoted to Sgt. on 10 February, 1948, and then to Lieutenant on 28 December, 1950. He was assigned to the Eastern District after his appointment and to the Northeast District when he was promoted to Lieutenant. He had been at the southwestern district for about four years, police said. Lieutenant Thompson is survived by his wife, Mrs. Doris M. Thompson: a daughter, Mrs. Frederick Glover: a brother, Joseph P. Thompson, and three sisters, Mrs. Anna Rivers, Mrs. Margaret Headle, and Mrs. Marie Rann. All lived in Baltimore. The body is at the Walters Funeral Home, Pratt and Stricker Streets. The Requiem Mass will be offered tomorrow at 10:00 am at St. Joseph Monastery Church, Loudoun Street, and Old Frederick Road. Burial will be in Loudon Park Cemetery.

More details

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Witnesses: Slain officer overwhelmed by crowd, police fired as he lay on ground. Police say 41 shots fired in incident outside club Sunday
From a Franklin Street apartment, a university employee and her roommate have a broad view of the nightclub parking lot where police say six people were shot Sunday—an incident that left a plainclothes police officer and a 22-year-old man dead. As an unusually large crowd attracted a significant police presence, the two opened a window and watched the events that led up to the shooting outside the Select Lounge in the 400 block of N. Paca St. The women, both 26, saw the plainclothes officer get overwhelmed by an unruly crowd, then watched as two uniformed officers opened fire while he lay on the ground. The women also saw the pained reaction of the slain officer's partners once they realized what had happened. It's a scene they haven't been able to get out of their minds. "I've never seen somebody killed," the university employee said Monday. City police have not given a detailed account of the night's events, saying the investigation will take three weeks to complete. There are dozens of witnesses, and police are seeking to piece together those accounts along with physical evidence and surveillance camera footage. However, the women's account is in line with what police sources think actually happened, and when combined with their information, it provides a vivid account of the chaotic incident. Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III confirmed at an afternoon news conference that no civilian weapons were fired and said five officers, including slain Officer William H. Torbit Jr., fired a total of 41 rounds during the incident. Bealefeld said the police were "committed to conducting a comprehensive and thorough investigation." "We must understand it, learn from it, and emerge better," he said. "We owe it to all the victims to be thorough and complete and only release confirmed facts." Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the shooting "raises a lot of questions" and that she and Bealefeld are open to an external review of the incident following the Police Department's internal review. The university employee, who did not want her name or school made public, and her roommate, Lakeisha Hutcherson, said in separate interviews with The Baltimore Sun that the incident unfolded about 1:15 a.m. According to the roommates, they first noticed a group of women walking to their cars outside the club when a vehicle began to pull out and almost hit one of them. One of the women became angry and began to hit the car with her shoe, trying to attack the driver, and a man in a pink shirt attempted to calm them down. The driver was able to pull off, but the woman remained agitated. A man—who the roommates would later learn was Torbit, 33—walked over, wearing a brown or black jacket. Neither woman said they saw a badge, though they said he might have been wearing one. Police say Torbit, a narcotics officer, was on-duty and in plainclothes. Normally an officer on such an assignment would not be working crowd control, but he had been called to the scene after dispatchers put out a "Signal 13"—that code, for an officer in distress, typically draws scores of officers looking to help. Officers at the scene were trying to deal with fights inside that spilled out of the recently opened club, and Torbit found himself in the middle of the fracas. "I thought he was just a guy trying to break up the altercation," the university employee said. "He was telling them, 'Stop. Go home.'" Hutcherson added: "He was trying to push people out of the way, trying to stop the fight. He was trying to make peace, and it seemed like some guys took it wrong." In a flash, they said, a large crowd began fighting and "overtook" the plainclothes officer, who disappeared in a sea of people. Sean Gamble, the 22-year-old victim, has been named by family members. His brother told The Baltimore Sun Sunday night that Gamble had witnessed Torbit being aggressive toward a woman and that Gamble started arguing with him. That escalated to an altercation, the brother said. The women say that is not what they saw. "I didn't see [the plainclothes officer] being aggressive with her—she was aggressive," the university employee said. "It looked like he was trying to break it up, to stop it from escalating. I don't even know how the other guys got involved." Then the women saw two uniformed officers approach and heard a shot. They aren't sure who fired the shot—it was not the uniformed officers, the roommates said—and none of those fighting seemed to react. It is believed that the shot came from Torbit's weapon, though police said they are checking ballistics to confirm that. A few seconds later, a second shot went off, the roommates said, and people started running.

Officer One Of Two Killed At Club
Sources: Police Investigating Whether Shooting Was Friendly Fire
Baltimore Sun reporter Timothy Wheeler contributed to this article
Justin Fenton 
Jan 10, 2011

Baltimore police officers might have shot and killed a fellow officer and an unarmed man after observing the officer draw his weapon while trying to quell a disturbance outside a club near downtown early Sunday, according to law enforcement sources and a relative of one of the victims. Police released few details about the circumstances of the shooting, but they described a chaotic scene outside the Select Lounge in the 400 block of N. Paca St., with fights spilling out of the club and into the street around 1:15 a.m. "There was an altercation that took place very near the club, and some officers worked to intercede in that fight, at which time some gunshots were discharged," said Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. "Several officers fired multiple shots." Sources said Officer William H. Torbit Jr., 33, an eight-year veteran, and 22-year-old Sean Gamble, a semi-professional football player who had no criminal record, were killed in the gunfire. Four others—a second officer and three women—were wounded, police said. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, three law enforcement sources briefed on the case spoke on the condition of anonymity. They claimed that witnesses told detectives that Torbit was wearing plainclothes and was under attack from a group of people. Police said his badge apparently came off during the scuffle. It is believed that the officers who responded to the scene shot at him after he drew his weapon, said the law enforcement sources and the victim's relative, who was also a witness. Gamble's brother, James Gamble, who was at the club, said he saw Torbit, who he believed was off-duty, acting aggressively toward a woman. His brother started arguing with the officer, and the discussion escalated, said Gamble, 24. He said a group of uniformed officers began firing on the crowd when the plainclothes officer reached for his service weapon. "It was a crazy scene," Gamble said. "They let off a good 20 shots, maybe six [officers]. They were just shooting." Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed Sunday evening that police were exploring whether officers had shot another officer in the midst of the chaotic situation. He said no civilian weapons had been recovered. The violence comes on the heels of a number of high-profile incidents downtown, many of them connected to the city's nightlife. In March, two people were shot outside the Velvet Rope, a club that police have pushed to shut down. A month before that, a security guard was fatally shot on Light Street, and in June, an off-duty police officer was charged with fatally shooting an unarmed man during an altercation outside a Mount Vernon club. A Marine, celebrating before his redeployment to Afghanistan, was fatally shot at a downtown hookah bar in July, and a city police officer was shot and wounded in November after approaching an armed man near the city's adult entertainment district. An off-duty Baltimore detective was killed in October when he was hit in the head during an argument over a parking space in Canton. "This is an absolutely horrible incident," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said of Sunday's shootings. "I prayed we would never lose another officer, but here we are again." Torbit's death comes four years to the day after Officer Troy Lamont Chesley was killed during an attempted carjacking. Chesley was the last officer to die in an attack while on duty. Since the 2008 death of off-duty officer Norman Stamp at a bar in Southeast Baltimore, if police find that Torbit died as a result of friendly fire, it would be the first such incident. Police said at the time that officers responding to a call about a fight encountered Stamp, whom they didn't recognize as a fellow officer, wearing brass knuckles, and shot him when he reached for his weapon. Stamp's widow last year lost a civil lawsuit filed against the officer who shot her husband. Police would not confirm Torbit's identity Sunday, and police union officials said they were waiting for the department to formally identify the officer before commenting on his death. News of Torbit's death stunned his next-door neighbor, Fafo Asres, who called the officer "a very nice person" who had helped maintain his neighborhood off Rolling Road in western Baltimore County. Torbit cleaned up trash and debris on the street and offered to haul waste items away in his truck for other residents, Asres said.

Torbit had also kidded around with Asres' children, the neighbor said. "My kids love him and call him 'Uncle Will,'" Asres said, adding that Torbit was "a very good example" for young people. Though Torbit apparently lived alone, his neighbor described the officer as a "family man," with a number of relatives in the area. "He was there for his family," Asres said. Asres said that he last saw Torbit on New Year's Eve and that the officer had told him he was working that night. "I'm just sad," Asres said. Gamble's relatives, meanwhile, said they believed police acted recklessly in firing on the crowd outside the nightclub. Corey Brown, 31, who said he is Sean Gamble's godbrother, said Sunday night that Gamble had a young child and was engaged to be married. Brown said Gamble worked for a waste management company and had no criminal record, a fact confirmed by a search of court records. "He's not a violent kid; he's not in the streets," said Brown, who was not at the club early Sunday morning. "He's not even cut from that cloth. Apparently he got into a fight, and the cops started shooting. Not in the air, in the crowd, and they shot him." James Gamble said that the shots sent clubgoers running in every direction and that he located his brother underneath a vehicle. Sean Gamble had been shot in the chest, he said. James Gamble and dozens of others were detained for questioning by police. Sean Gamble, who went to Woodlawn High School, was a member of the Baltimore Saints semi-pro football league, playing linebacker and wearing number 56. Brown said Sean Gamble had a "huge heart and was really a person you wanted to be around." "He was loyal, loyal to the death," Brown said. At a news conference outside the Maryland Shock Trauma Center before sunrise Sunday, police said they could not say what prompted the officers to fire or whether anyone other than the officers had fired a gun. "We're a few hours into this whole ordeal, and we have scores of detectives working on the case, processing evidence, and interviewing witnesses," Bealefeld said. "We have a ton of work to do to put together the facts of what happened." The police had a few additional details to offer later Sunday. The detectives were reviewing surveillance camera footage and other physical evidence. Select Lounge opened late in October, a few blocks north of Lexington Market, and has sought to attract an upscale crowd. Its Facebook page describes a strict dress code and boasts of a VIP lounge for the "ultimate in discreet experiences" for "sophisticated club connoisseurs, savvy socialites, A-list celebrities, and Baltimore's [sic] elite." Ravens player Dannell Ellerbe chose the club to celebrate his birthday in December. At the scene Sunday morning, police tape blocked a parking lot adjacent to the Select Lounge that was still full of cars as detectives interviewed clubgoers at police headquarters. A "VIP Parking" sandwich board lay in the street. By afternoon, all that remained in the parking lot were empty liquor bottles and scattered fliers for coming events at nightspots around the city. Calls made to a phone number for the club's owners were not immediately returned. "What we need to figure out is what sparked the shooting," said Guglielmi. "Was there a weapon drawn by a civilian? Was the officer's weapon taken? We've got to put together a timeline and figure out what happened." On Twitter, people lamented Baltimore's continuing nightlife violence. "I can't even go out anymore," one person wrote. Another said, "This has to stop."

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Baltimore Sun reporter Timothy Wheeler contributed to this article.

Credit: The Baltimore Sun

Pair Say Police Officer
41 Shots were fired in Incident outside Nightclub

 Jan 11, 2011

From a Franklin Street apartment, a university employee and her roommate have a broad view of the nightclub parking lot where police say six people were shot Sunday—an incident that left a plainclothes police officer and a 22-year-old man dead. As an unusually large crowd attracted a significant police presence, the two opened a window and watched the events that led up to the shooting outside the Select Lounge in the 400 block of N. Paca St. The women, both 26, saw the plainclothes officer get overwhelmed by an unruly crowd, then watched as two uniformed officers opened fire while he lay on the ground. The women also saw the pained reaction of the slain officer's partners once they realized what had happened. It's a scene they haven't been able to get out of their minds. "I've never seen somebody killed," the university employee said Monday. City police have not given a detailed account of the night's events, saying the investigation will take three weeks to complete. There are dozens of witnesses, and police are seeking to piece together those accounts along with physical evidence and surveillance camera footage. However, the women's account is in line with what police sources think actually happened, and when combined with their information, it provides a vivid account of the chaotic incident. Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III confirmed at an afternoon news conference that no civilian weapons were fired and said five officers, including slain officer William H. Torbit Jr., fired a total of 41 rounds during the incident. Bealefeld said the police were "committed to conducting a comprehensive and thorough investigation." "We must understand it, learn from it, and emerge better," he said. "We owe it to all the victims to be thorough and complete and only release confirmed facts." Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the shooting "raises a lot of questions" and that she and Bealefeld are open to an external review of the incident following the Police Department's internal review. The university employee, who did not want her name or school made public, and her roommate, Lakeisha Hutcherson, said in separate interviews with The Baltimore Sun that the incident unfolded about 1:15 a.m. According to the roommates, they first noticed a group of women walking to their cars outside the club when a vehicle began to pull out and almost hit one of them. One of the women became angry and began to hit the car with her shoe, trying to attack the driver, and a man in a pink shirt attempted to calm them down. The driver was able to pull off, but the woman remained agitated. A man—who the roommates would later learn was Torbit, 33—walked over, wearing a brown or black jacket. Neither woman said they saw a badge, though they said he might have been wearing one. Police say Torbit, a narcotics officer, was on-duty and in plainclothes. Normally an officer on such an assignment would not be working crowd control, but he had been called to the scene after dispatchers put out a "Signal"13"—that code, for an officer in distress, typically draws scores of officers looking to help. Officers at the scene were trying to deal with fights inside that spilled out of the recently opened club, and Torbit found himself in the middle of the fracas. "I thought he was just a guy trying to break up the altercation," the university employee said. "He was telling them, 'Stop. Go home.' " Hutcherson added: "He was trying to push people out of the way, trying to stop the fight. He was trying to make peace, and it seemed like some guys took it wrong." In a flash, they said, a large crowd began fighting and "overtook" the plainclothes officer, who disappeared in a sea of people. Sean Gamble, the 22-year-old victim, has been named by family members. His brother told The Baltimore Sun Sunday night that Sean Gamble had witnessed Torbit being aggressive toward a woman and that Gamble started arguing with him. That escalated to an altercation, the brother said. The women say that is not what they saw. "I didn't see [the plainclothes officer] being aggressive with her; she was aggressive," the university employee said. "It looked like he was trying to break it up, to stop it from escalating. I don't even know how the other guys got involved." Then the women saw two uniformed officers approach and heard a shot. They aren't sure who fired the shot—it was not the uniformed officers, the roommates said—and none of those fighting seemed to react. It is believed that the shot came from Torbit's weapon, though police said they are checking ballistics to confirm that. A few seconds later, a second shot went off, the roommates said, and people started running. Hutcherson left the window to check on her young daughter, but her roommate continued watching. The university employee said the man in the dark jacket was lying on his back, his arms splayed out. She could not see a weapon, though police said there's no indication that his gun was taken from him at any point during the fight. "The [plainclothes officer] was... on his back, and two uniformed officers took a couple steps back and just fired at him while he was lying on the ground," the university employee said. Hutcherson, who heard multiple gunshots, recounted how her roommate relayed to her what was happening: "She said, 'Oh my God, they're killing him. He's not even moving; he's laying on the ground with his hands up.' " "Another cop, a heavy-set guy with 'Police' on his back, was screaming [expletives]," she said. "A cop in a brown hoodie fell to his knees, and that's when we knew [the victim] was a cop." A third witness, 39-year-old Jacques Steptoe, said Monday that he had been watching the crowd from his fourth-floor window at a nearby nursing home on North Paca Street. He has been recovering from surgery and couldn't sleep that night, he said. From his vantage point, catty-corner to the roommates' apartment, he said he believed someone sprayed Mace and that Torbit whipped his right arm around, gripping his service weapon, and fired a shot into the crowd. When the uniformed officers saw that, they began opening fire, causing him to fall back. "He fell down with the gun in his hand just like that," Steptoe said, bringing his arms over his head. He said he saw "five or six" officers then approach Torbit, some of them still shooting. At Monday's news conference, police identified the officers who fired their weapons as Harry Dodge, 37, an 11-year veteran; Harry Pawley, 40, a 17-year veteran; Toyia Williams, 36, a 13-year veteran; and Latora Craig, 30, a nine-year veteran. Dodge was shot in the foot, police said. Only Craig has ever discharged her weapon before, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Her gun fired into a wall during a struggle for the weapon with a suspect in July 2010. She was cleared and returned to duty. Dodge, Pawley, Williams, and Craig have been placed on routine administrative suspension with pay pending an investigation and have not given statements about the shooting. Michael Davey, an attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police, said the officers do not have to speak with investigators because the case, like all police-involved shootings - is considered a criminal investigation. But he said all of the officers intend to speak with detectives in the coming days. As Torbit lay on the ground, a law enforcement source said, an off-duty medic who was among the clubgoers began tending to him. The roommates said they saw officers pick up Torbit by his arms and legs and carry him to the back seat of a car. The car was surrounded by hordes of people, but the officers eventually were able to drive off, taking him to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead. Meanwhile, a group of people was advancing on the uniformed officers who had fired their weapons, apparently angry at what they had observed, and officers began deploying Tasers and slamming people onto the hoods of cars. "It was out of control," Hutcherson said. A few feet away, they noticed another victim: Sean Gamble. The waste management worker, who has no criminal record, was lying under a car that appeared to be trying to pull away. They said Gamble, whose brother says he was shot in the chest, remained there for what seemed like 30 minutes before an ambulance came. They saw medics pumping his chest. "We're right near Maryland General University Hospital, and no one came for a long time," Hutcherson said. Fire Department officials did not respond to a request for records that would show how long it took for medics to respond. The roommates continued to watch the incident unfold. They said crime scene technicians did not arrive until 4 a.m., with people leaving the club "trampling" on the crime scene. Neither woman has called police to report what they saw; both said they are fearful of officers after observing the incident and the police response. But they said they wanted the public to know what they saw. "I didn't know it was a cop, but no one deserves to be shot at like that," the university employee said. "I felt like it was ridiculously excessive and unnecessary. There was no need for that shooting to happen."
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Baltimore Sun reporters Julie Scharper and Yeganeh June Torbati contributed to this article.