Baltimore County Police officer kills man in theft of police car

Shooting follows chase in Lutherville
Byline: Gerard Shields and Dennis O'Brien
Source: SUN STAFF - The Baltimore Sun 
Published on Friday, January 4, 2002 


In an early-morning shooting that rattled a quiet suburban
neighborhood, Baltimore County police officer killed a 21-year-old 
man who had stolen a police cruiser and triggered a chase across 
Lutherville.

Damien J. Fox of Upper Marlboro was shot after he crashed 
the cruiser into two parked cars, rammed police cruisers that
had refused to obey an order to get out of the car, police said. 

He was pronounced dead at the scene. The chase ended shortly 
after 3 a.m. in front of Larry Goss house at 1022 Jamieson 
Road in Lutherville. Goss was awakened by the sound of
gunfire and looked out his window. 

It was pretty confusing seeing three officers in the middle of
the street with their guns drawn, pointing [them] at another 
police car," Goss said.

Fox, whose last known address is the 100 block of Big Chimney 
Branch, was shot by Officer Joseph C. Smith, a 21-year veteran 
of the department.

Police said Smith fired several shots, though it's not clear 
how many. Police also did not know how many times Fox was hit.
The cruiser in which Fox was riding contained a police shotgun,
said Lt. Kevin Novak, a department spokesman. A preliminary
investigation showed Fox was not carrying a weapon, he added.

The incident began about 3 a.m., when Fox was pulled over, 
accused of speeding on Seminary Avenue and Charmuth Road. After
stepping from his car, Fox attacked Officer Benjamin P. Yohe, 
who had been operating a radar gun, and jumped into Yohe's
cruiser, which was parked nearby, police said. "It was really
rather violent," Novak said. "The officer was knocked down."

Fox headed west on Seminary Avenue, dragging Yohe, who had 
tried to reach into the cruiser window to stop the car, for several 
yards. Yohe, a 31-year veteran, used his radio officers in the 
area to be on the lookout for the patrol car, whose overhead lights 
were flashing, police said. Two officers in separate cruisers saw
Fox cross York Road on Seminary Avenue and began chasing him.
He turned left onto Jamieson Road, rode across a lawn, crashed
through a white wooden fence and knocked down a street sign 
police said.

The cruisers boxed in Fox after he struck two parked cars.
Fox refused to obey repeated orders to get out of the car, and 
Smith's "observations of the suspect's actions" led him to 
fire several rounds into the patrol car in which Fox was sitting,
Novak said.

Yohe was taken to Greater Baltimore Medical Center, where he was
treated for minor cuts and bruises and released.

The shooting will be investigated by the department's homicide
division, which will send its findings to the state's attorney's
office for review, Novak said. Smith is on routine administrative 
leave while the investigation continues. County court records show 
that Fox has an extensive criminal history dating to November 1999,
when he was charged with robbery after he followed a dancer 
from a club in Washington. The dancer, Michelle Patricia Duncan,
pulled into the Woodlawn Precinct about 3 a.m. after calling
police on her cellular telephone. Officers who followed Fox's 
car found a knife on the seat next to his right leg, according
to a police affidavit. A passenger in the car told police 
that Fox had followed Duncan with the intention of robbing her,
court records show.

Duncan said yesterday that she was afraid of Fox. "It's bad to say,
but I feel slightly easier that he's not out there," she said.

Fox was convicted of robbery and sentenced by Baltimore County
Circuit Judge Kathleen Cox to seven years with all but nine 
months suspended, according to court records. Cox agreed
to recommend that Fox serve his sentence on work release,
but officials at the Baltimore County Detention Center 
later told the judge that he was terminated from a work
detail "for not following directions."

In a letter Aug. 31, 2000, Fox asked the judge to reduce his 
sentence, saying that he was sorry for his crime and that he 
planned to go to college. Fox wrote that he "has recognized
the impact of his hideous actions towards those directly 
related to this offense." 

He was released but arrested in August on a marijuana possession
charge. That led probation officials to recommend that Fox be
sent back to prison to serve out his term. A warrant for his
arrest was issued in November.

The trial in the marijuana case was set for Jan. 15.
Court records also show that he was indicted by a Baltimore County
grand jury Dec. 20 on eight counts of burglary and attempted
burglary. Fox was accused of breaking into two apartments in
the 8500 block of Heathrow Court in Fullerton. Russell Neverdon, 
Fox's attorney in the 1999 robbery case, described Fox yesterday
as an articulate but troubled youth. He said Fox had planned
to enter the military when he was released from jail. "Structure
and discipline where something that he himself acknowledged he 
needed in his life," Neverdon said.

Attempts to reach Fox's family yesterday were unsuccessful.

Homeowners on Jamieson Road were shaken by the incident, even
though some were not immediately aware of what had happened. 
The stolen cruiser crashed into the fence in the front yard of 
Edith Reiter's house at 900 Jamieson Road, but she didn't wake up.
Yesterday afternoon, Reiter, 73, looked over the splintered wreckage 
and a bent street sign on her lawn. Muddy tire tracks showed the 
cruiser's path. "I'm flabbergasted," said Reiter, who sleeps in 
the back of the house. "He had to be going really fast to take out
that fence. We're lucky he didn't hit the house." 


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