Man crashes gasoline-doused vehicle into AACC gate

An Arnold man was in critical condition this morning after dousing the inside of a vehicle with gasoline and crashing it into an entrance gate at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold.

At just after 4 a.m. county police Officer Lori Eakins noticed a suspicious vehicle driving past the Kohl's Department Store at 573 Ritchie Highway, said Justin Mulcahy, a county police spokesman.

Officer Eakins watched as the four-door Subaru sedan pulled into the Shell gas station nearby at McKinsey Road. As the officer moved in for a closer look, she said she saw the 21-year-old man pumping gasoline directly into the passenger compartment of the sedan, dousing the interior with the flammable liquid.

When police ordered the man to stop, he told the officer she would "have to shoot him," then quickly got into the vehicle and sped away south on Ritchie Highway, Mr. Mulcahy said.

The officer briefly lost sight of the man, then saw the Subaru take a quick left onto College Parkway and into the entrance of the community college. With Officer Eakins following, the man crashed into a locked entrance gate and came to an abrupt stop, Mr. Mulcahy said.

Because of the risk of an explosion, police called county firefighters for backup and stood back from the crashed sedan. Police surrounded the street with "stop sticks" so the man could not drive away.

The driver remained inside the vehicle, and was inhaling toxic fumes, police said. Officers tried to help the man from a distance, shooting beanbag rounds at the vehicle's rear windows to break the glass and allow fresh air inside, Mr. Mulcahy said.

Firefighters arrived at the scene at about 4:15 a.m., said Capt. Debbie Bowen, a county Fire Department spokesman. With firefighters standing by with a hose to douse potential flames, officers carefully removed the man from behind the driver's seat and carried him 40 feet to waiting paramedics.

Capt. Bowen said the man had been exposed to gasoline fumes for 45 minutes and was taken by ambulance with life-threatening inhalation injuries to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Parole, she said.

His name and condition were not available this morning. Criminal charges are pending, police said.

The ambulance that carried the man was out of service for an hour this morning to air out the heavy gasoline fumes, Capt. Bowen said.