Police Beat for November 4

ANNAPOLIS AREA

Rockfish robbed

Someone robbed The Rockfish restaurant at gunpoint late Tuesday night, city police said.

Officers were called to the restaurant in the 400 block of Sixth Street at 12:02 a.m. for a robbery that happened minutes before. Employees said a man had come in at 11:30 p.m. and asked what time the bar closed, then left. He came back 25 minutes later and asked the bartender for change. The bartender was getting the man change and, when the bartender looked up again, the man was pointing a semiautomatic handgun at his face, police said.

The man threatened to shoot him if he didn't turn over money. The bartender took out the cash drawer and the man took money out of it. He then demanded money from customers, police said.

One of the victims saw the man leave in an older silver or light gray Honda or Acura and followed him in her car, but lost him on President Street, police said. He was described as a black man, 20 to 25 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall to 5 feet 10 inches tall, 180 to 200 pounds. He was wearing all black clothing, including a black North Face jacket, and had a large silver ring on his right ring finger. He was cleanshaven and had black dreadlocks, police said.

Ticket scam

A city man was scammed out of more than $1,700 when he tried to purchase World Series baseball tickets through Craigslist.com, city police said.

The victim, a 47-year-old man, told police he'd been in contact with an online seller to buy six tickets for the Saturday and Sunday games in Philadelphia for $1,800.

The transaction was originally supposed to happen through PayPal, a third-party online money-exchange program, but company officials contacted the victim and said they would not perform the transaction because the seller was not in good standing with them, police said.

After that method of payment was denied, the seller told the victim to send him a MoneyGram for $1,700, and the victim did.

Days later, the victim received an empty envelope from the seller. The victim was in contact with the seller in Florida several times after he received the empty envelope but wasn't able to get his money back, police said.

Disorderly arrest

A city man was arrested Sunday afternoon after police said he was yelling and threatening to blow up the Giant Food store on Bay Ridge Road.

Officers were called to the store at 1:20 p.m. for the report of the man shouting obscenities and threatening to "blow the place up" while customers entered and exited the store. Employees warned him several times to stop before they called the police.

Mark Anthony Hicks, 51, of Old Annapolis Neck Road, was charged with disorderly conduct, police said. Officers said they did not find any explosive devices on him.

Jewelry stolen

Someone stole four pieces of jewelry Friday from the Avoca store on Main Street, city police said.

Officers were called to the store just before 2 p.m. for the reported theft. An employee said a man had taken three gold rings and a gold pendant from a display while a woman distracted the employees, police said.

Officers were not able to find the pair and did not give a description. The jewelry was valued at $1,188, police said.

Disorderly arrest

A Severna Park man was arrested downtown early Sunday after city police said he yelled at officers and got in the way of an ambulance.

Officers were in the area of 26 Market Space at 1:01 a.m. assisting paramedics with an injured person when a group of apparently intoxicated people claiming to be friends of the victim got in the way, police said. Officers told them to move so the ambulance could get by, but one man didn't comply, according to reports.

Police said they told the man three times to move away and that he shouted at the officers, drawing an even larger crowd to the area.

The man continued to shout at police, saying "all you police want to do is lock somebody up, so lock me up," police said. An officer placed the man under arrest.

Paul Vinson Garner, 26, of Yorkshire Drive in Severna Park, was charged with hindering police, disorderly conduct and failing to obey a lawful order, police said.

On the way to the police station, Garner told the officer he would be getting in trouble for arresting him because he works for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, police said.

WEST COUNTY

Pedestrian struck

A 59-year-old man was critically injured Monday when he was struck by a car on Laurel Fort Meade Road, county police and firefighters said.

Carlos Vasquez, 59, of an unknown address, was crossing Route 198 near Old Line Road about 6:45 p.m. when he was struck by a 1999 Dodge that was traveling eastbound, police said.

He was taken to the trauma center at Prince George's Hospital Center with head and leg injuries, police said. A county Fire Department spokesman said Vasquez suffered serious, life-threatening injuries. His condition was unavailable.

Police said Vasquez was wearing dark clothing and was not in a crosswalk.

The driver of the Dodge, Pamela Anne McDowell, 49, of Brooklyn Park, was not injured.

NORTH COUNTY

Man still critical

A 50-year-old man who was trapped under a recreational vehicle he was working on late Saturday afternoon in Pasadena remains in critical condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, hospital officials said.

Robert Prince Jr. of 1992 Poplar Road in Pasadena was working on an RV in the 8400 block of Forest Drive near the Lake Shore area about 5:15 p.m. when a concrete pad beneath the vehicle broke, causing the RV to fall, said Justin Mulcahy, a county police spokesman. It took county firefighters about 14 minutes to free Prince from under the vehicle, county fire officials said.

He was taken by ambulance with life-threatening injuries to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie and has since been moved to the shock trauma center. He remains in critical condition, said Cindy Rivers, a hospital spokeswoman.