The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here.Take note of that link: just two days ago (November 29, 2010) the author (Andrew Revkin) made an update to his post of over a a year ago (November 20, 2009) trying to explain what he meant, in hindsight. Clearly, the Times is sensitive to the issue of their own hypocrisy.
The articles published today and in coming days are based on thousands of United States embassy cables, the daily reports from the field intended for the eyes of senior policy makers in Washington. The New York Times and a number of publications in Europe were given access to the material several weeks ago and agreed to begin publication of articles based on the cables online on Sunday. The Times believes that the documents serve an important public interest, illuminating the goals, successes, compromises and frustrations of American diplomacy in a way that other accounts cannot match.The message goes on to say that they will actually publish some of the cables, too. So yes, there you have it, hypocrisy at it's best. The New York Times has not been relevant for years, so I guess we should have come to expect this by now.
On November 18, 2010, at approximately 3:21 p.m., officers from the Northern District responded to Baltimore Washington Medical Center for a reported stabbing and attempt robbery that occurred earlier at another location.
Upon arrival, officers spoke with the 50-year-old male victim from Glen Burnie, who advised that he was assaulted by three unknown suspects as he was walking near the Discount Cigarette located in the 7900 block of B&A Boulevard in Glen Burnie. The suspects approached the victim and asked him for money, but the victim relayed that he didn’t have any money. At that time, the suspects responded by pushing the victim. One of the suspects brandished a knife, swung it at the victim and struck him multiple times in the abdomen area. The suspects then fled on foot toward Albert Drive. The victim suffered minor lacerations from the incident. Several officers responded to the area to search for the suspects, but were unable to locate them.
Suspect #1: Black male, approximately 17-19 years old, 5’10” with a medium build and braided hair, last seen wearing a black shirt, a black jacket, black jeans and white shoes
Suspect #2: Black male, approximately 17-19 years old, 5’7” with a medium build, last seen wearing a green shirt, a black jacket, black pants and white shoes
Suspect #3: Black male, approximately 17-19 years old, 5’7” with a heavy build, last seen wearing a white jacket, a black shirt, black jeans and black shoesAndrew had almost the exact same thing happen to him at the same location a few weeks before he died; he wasn't stabbed but the assailants did have a knife. Here is a look at the scene:
Three people were killed when a man driving a stolen car drove through a red light in Federal Hill and crashed into their vehicle, police said.
The victims, all from the Morrell Park area, were identified by police as Michael Ledford, 17, of the 2000 block of Griffis Ave; Kevin Thomas, 18, of the 1700 block of Monterey St.; and Briana Macapagal, whose age was not provided by police, of the 300 block of Woodyear St.
At about 11:30 p.m., police said Charles Johnson III, 19, was driving northbound on Hanover Street in a Lincoln Town Car that had been reported stolen earlier that night. Police said Johnson drove through a red light at the intersection with Ostend Street and struck a 1994 Ford Tempo that was being driven westbound by Ledford.and...
Officer James Wissman, who was in the area at the time, observed Johnson exit the Town Car and attempt to flee on foot. Wissman apprehended Johnson and searched him, finding a bag of suspected marijuana in his pants pocket.
A second man was also apprehended and taken to a local hospital but has not been charged.
Johnson has been charged with automobile manslaughter, drug violations and car theft, according to police.In barely 12 hours, the police apprehended Johnson, determined that he ran a red light, and charged him with automobile manslaughter. Kudos to them for their quick work.
At 19-years-old, Andrew Arnold-McCoy, was like a lot of young men his age.
He lived day-by-day, worked at the Walmart for a steady paycheck and was always on the lookout for a new place where he and his friends could skateboard.
Sitting in the living room of the family's Glen Burnie home, Arnold-McCoy's parents remembered their son as a happy-go-lucky prankster who enjoyed an active social life with many friends.
"He made friends very easily," said Michael Schearer, his stepfather. "He was always telling jokes and making people laugh."
On Oct. 3, Arnold-McCoy's life came to a tragic end after he was involved in fatal car accident in Baltimore. Ten days later, Arnold-McCoy's family is still waiting for answers from police about their son's death.
"It's very frustrating not to know anything," said Schearer. "We know investigations take time, but it is frustrating going a week without knowing."
The accident occurred around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, at the intersection of Patapsco Avenue and Potee Street, when the SUV that Arnold-McCoy was riding in collided with a car driven by an off-duty Annapolis police officer. Arnold-McCoy was thrown from the vehicle in the accident and died a short time later Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
In the days after the accident, Arnold-McCoy's parents contacted city police to gather the young man's personal effects, including his wallet and cell phone, and learn about the details surrounding the crash.
However, calls to the police were never returned and information was slow to come back to the family.
It was through reading news accounts that the family first learned the driver of the second vehicle was James Salyers, who joined the Annapolis Police Department in August after a 28-year career with the Baltimore police.
Their 19-year-old son was referred to as only an "unknown passenger," Schearer said. The first public statement about the wreck came from the Annapolis Police Department on Thursday.
Frustrated with the lack of information coming from police and the desire to have his stepson properly remembered, Schearer began speaking to the press over the weekend hoping that it would spur law enforcement to release details about the accident.
Schearer noted that it was unusual for almost an entire week to go by without the police releasing a statement to the press.
According to Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for Balitmore police, the delay was the result of a "perfect storm of miscommunication."
In the aftermath of the accident, the Maryland Transportation Authority Police was handling the investigation, so that members of the Baltimore Traffic Safety Division could attend the funeral of one of their own in Pennsylvania.
In light of the memorial service on Oct. 4, the department asked the MdTA to handle the preliminary collision reconstruction and investigation of the collision, Guglielmi said.
On Thursday, the investigation was handed back to city police.
Guglielmi confirmed that Saylers was driving a 2005 CTS south on Potee Street when he collided with the 2000 Dodge Durango, driven by 19-year-old Phil Dornberger of Pasadena. The intersection with Patapsco is controlled by a traffic light.
"We don't have much to say at this point," Guglielmi said. "We don't know who had the signal."
Police are waiting for the results of a drug and alcohol tests, which should be available by the end of this week, Gugleilmi said. Such tests are standard procedure.
No charges have been filed in the accident.
Gugleimi said there was no effort by police to delay information relating to the crash or to cover anything up. While the Schearers' say they take the department at its word, Salyer's connection to the department is not lost on them.
"They obviously knew who he was, it just makes you wonder," Schearer said. "They say there's no conflict of interest and I believe them."
Annapolis police spokesman Scott Baker said last week that Salyers will work in an administrative capacity until a final decision in the matter can be reached.
Once a final police report is completed, it will be forwarded to the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office for review. A decision on charges could take months.
Although the Schearers have been in contact with members of the Baltimore and the MdTA police departments this week, many of their question remained unanswered.
In the meantime, Arnold-McCoy's family, including Elizabeth McCoy, 16, Chloe Schearer, 3, and Michael Schearer, 1, are trying to come to come to terms with the accident.
The family held a memorial service last week. Tracy Schearer, Arnold-McCoy's mother, said the family was particularly touched to see her son memorialized by the local skateboarding community.
Arnold-McCoy's name is scrawled in chalk at the skate park at Sawmill Park, where he skated frequently.
"I was really amazed when I saw that," said Tracy Schearer. "It made me realize that there were even more people that loved him... Hopefully we will have answers for Andrew soon."
19 year old Andrew McCoy's parents say he lived for the day, but on the night of October third he would lose his life.
The car he was riding in was in a head on collision at the intersection of West Patapsco and Potee Streets in South Baltimore.
McCoy, a passenger was thrown from the car and killed.
"He was beautiful, he was a beautiful person. He was always happy and it made every one around him happy and he was loved, by a lot of people," said mother Tracy Schearer.
Loved not just by his family, but friends.
McCoy was an avid skateboarder and at a skateboard park near his Glen Burnie home, a message of RIP is spray painted directly in the middle.
A life of just 19 years, McCoy touched many. Not deserving his parents say of an accident investigation that took nearly a week before they would learn even basic details.
"We've been told that it would take at least several weeks to do the entire investigation and we certainly understand that, but having almost no details for nearly a week was very frustrating for us not to be able to know anything," said his father Michael Schearer.
It was several days before the Schearers would even learn an off duty Annapolis police officer was driving the other car.
They also have yet to receive their son's personal effects like his wallet or cell phone.
A delay Baltimore Police regret.
"It was simply a perfect storm of miscommunication and again, there was no malice toward the family or any attempt to cover anything up or hide anything," said spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.
At the time city police were dealing with a traffic fatality of one of their own, Officer James Fowler and asked MTA Police to handle McCoy's accident.
The investigation has since been turned back over to city police.
A transfer authorities say caused the delay in even some of the most basic facts surrounding McCoy's death.
"The only thing we saw in the news was just that he was an unidentified passenger. We didn't want his memory to be as an unidentified passenger. We wanted people to know there was a human being behind that label," said Schearer.
A human being with a family patiently waiting to find out just how their son died and who if anyone is at fault.
City police say it will take a few weeks to complete their investigation into exactly what happened that night.
The Annapolis police officer has been placed on desk duty until the report is written.
A family is desperate for answers into what caused the car accident that killed their 19-year-old son. They say it's taken days to get basic information from police. The wreck involved an off-duty officer.
Mike Hellgren has more on the tragedy and the investigation.
Andrew McCoy was thrown from the SUV his friend was driving. It somehow collided with a Cadillac driven by a former Baltimore City police officer, who currently works for the Annapolis Police. McCoy's family simply want a fair and full investigation.
McCoy's mother and stepfather met WJZ at the Sawmill Creek Park, a home away from home for their son.
They want to know what happened the night he died, a week ago, at the intersection of Patapsco Avenue and Potee Street.
"We received a call late Sunday night/early Monday morning that he had been involved in a very serious accident," said Andrew's stepfather Michael Schearer.
"They told us to get to Shock Trauma ASAP," said his mother Tracy Schearer.
For days they got few answers from police. Because of a funeral for a member of Baltimore City's accident investigation unit, the MTA initially took the case.
The family did not know an off-duty police officer was involved in the accident until four days after the crash when they read it online. It was the morning of their son's funeral.
"And that's really the first time we had heard anything about the accident at all," Michael Schearer said.
"I was mad because they didn't tell us," Tracy Schearer said.
There was anger and frustration just because we didn't know anything," Michael Schearer added.
Baltimore City Police have now taken the lead.
"One of the most important pieces in this is going to be the blood and alcohol testing that was done at the hospital," said Baltimore City police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
Guglielmi says those test results will have to be subpoenaed and that police have to physically get them back from the lab.
"We have to be very prudent and very methodical in these cases because somebody lost their life," Guglielmi said, "and there could be the possibility of criminal charges."
Police say the officer involved, James Salyers, served 28 years in Baltimore City before retiring and joining the Annapolis force, where he's on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
"We don't have any evidence and we're not making any accusations against the police department that anything fishy happened," said Michael Schearer, "but it just makes you wonder."
So many questions now consume the Schearers as they look for closure and justice for their son.
"It's just kind of a bureaucratic snafu in terms of information coming out," Michael Schearer said.
"I'm glad he knew he was loved," Tracy Schearer said of her late son.
Police are still trying to figure out who ran the traffic light in this case and whether a Citiwatch camera captured any of it. Police say this information is critical.
Andrew's mother says her son's close friend, who was driving the SUV, doesn't remember anything about the crash.
On Sunday, Oct. 3, two cars collided at Patapsco Avenue and Potee Street in South Baltimore. One man was thrown from the vehicle and died.
City police, busy preparing for a funeral for an officer who died in a car crash in Pennsylvania, asked the Maryland Transportation Authority police to handle the investigation. As a result, neither agency said anything about the crash to either the media or to the public.
But this is not just a media-feels wrong story. The family of the 19-year-old victim, Andrew Arnold-McCoy of Glen Burnie, didn't get much information either. In fact, officers who notified him of the death did not tell that the driver of the other was an off-duty police officer from Annapolis.
The investigation into the cause of the accident continues -- one of drivers blew a red light -- but the refusal of the authorities, particularly those in the Maryland Transportation Authority, to release even the most basic details is perplexing and has angered the victim's family.
"We are just frustrated," Michael Schearer, McCoy's father, told Sun reporter Jessica Anderson. "It's hard to have closure if you don't know what happened."
We at the Sun learned about the accident from the Annapolis Police Department when they sent out a news release Thursday afternoon saying that one of their officers, James Salyers, had been placed on desk duty because of his involvement in the crash.
Calls to city police were referred to the transportation authority, where a spokesman confirmed the crash but refused to release more details, including the name of the victim which is usually made public after relatives are notified. Sgt. Jonathan Green told Anderson that the name couldn't be released until the investigation was complete.
The victim's father contacted The Sun after seeing a brief story of the accident and saying that he hadn't been told a police officer was involved. He had already buried his son and a death notice had been published. On Saturday, after Green still refused to confirm the identity of the victim, city police released the name.
This delay not only turned what otherwise would've been a small story on the accident into a larger story noting the anger and frustration of the victims' relatives, who were needlessly kept in the dark over a pertinent detail of their son's death, a detail they had to learn from reading the paper instead of being told by police. And the public was needlessly kept in the dark about a fatal car accident involving a police officer.
It is understandable that some may ask why did I speak to the media? I don't doubt that the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and the Baltimore City Police are probably not happy that I spoke to the media, but I'm not really concerned with their feelings. I have been told that police departments typically release at least some initial information about fatalities within 24 hours, but in this case there was nothing released until Thursday. And even then, that was a press release from the Annapolis Police Department that indicated that one of their police officers (Officer Salyers) was involved in the crash. The Baltimore Police only confirmed the accident late Thursday when asked by the media; four full days after the accident.
To be completely honest, the reason I spoke to the media in the first place is because I didn't want Andrew's memory to be as an "unidentified passenger." I want people to know that there was a human being behind that label. The human being was our son Andrew.Here is The Capital article:
Baltimore Police yesterday confirmed the identity of a 19-year-old Glen Burnie man who died last Sunday in Brooklyn after the SUV in which he was riding collided with a car driven by an off-duty Annapolis police officer.
Andrew Arnold-McCoy - who was first identified as the crash victim Friday morning on his stepfather's blog - was thrown from his friend's SUV during the 10:30 p.m. wreck at the intersection of Patapsco Avenue and Potee Street, police said. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
Details of the crash have been slow to reach the victim's family.
Michael Schearer, Arnold-McCoy's stepfather, said his family did not know Annapolis Police Officer James Salyers was driving the second car until Friday morning - when he read the first online news reports about the wreck.
"It's just been frustrating not knowing anything," said Schearer, explaining that police informed him of his stepson's death last Sunday. He claimed to have called Baltimore Police at least three times last week to no avail.
"We were not getting anywhere," he said yesterday afternoon after laying a wreath at the scene of the wreck.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, said his detectives could not release information sooner because until yesterday the Maryland Transportation Authority Police was handling the investigation. He explained one of the Baltimore Police Department's traffic safety detectives died Sept. 27 in Pennsylvania and that most of the city's Accident Investigation Unit was busy Monday morning attending the funeral. He said that in light of the memorial service the department asked the MdTA police to conduct the preliminary collision reconstruction investigation in this case.
"There was no effort to hide anything," Guglielmi said of the fatal wreck - which was first announced Thursday afternoon by the Annapolis Police Department. "We were just trying to get something more to tell them. ... We still don't know much more than the fact there was a collision."
In addition to confirming the names of Salyers and Arnold-McCoy, Guglielmi also identified for the first time yesterday the driver of the SUV in which Arnold-McCoy was riding. He said Phil Dornberger, 19, of Pasadena, was behind the wheel.
No charges have been filed in connection with the crash, which occurred at an intersection controlled by a traffic light.
According to Guglielmi, Salyers was driving a 2005 Cadillac CTS south on Potee Street when he collided with Dornberger's 2000 Dodge Durango. He said Dornberger was driving east on Patapsco at the time of the wreck.
"It's unclear at this point who had the red signal," said Guglielmi.
Detectives ordered drug and alcohol tests, but Guglielmi said that was standard procedure. The results are not yet available.
When complete, the final police report will be forwarded to the Office of the Baltimore State's Attorney for review. A decision on charges could take months.
Salyers - who served 28 years with the Baltimore Police Department before retiring in August and joining the Annapolis force - will work in an administrative capacity pending the final decision, Annapolis police said.
A memorial service for Arnold-McCoy was held yesterday at Singleton Funeral Home in Glen Burnie.
Schearer described his stepson yesterday as an avid skateboarder. He said Arnold-McCoy worked at the Walmart in Severn, but hoped to get a sponsor and skate professionally.
"He was always trying to find a place to skate," said Schearer, recalling how his stepson would regularly try to film himself doing tricks. "That was just what he did. That was his passion."
Almost one week after a fatal crash involving an Annapolis police officer, police released the identity of the victim.
Baltimore City police said Andrew Arnold-McCoy 19, of Glen Burnie was killed in the Oct. 3 crash, but McCoy's father said that police did not tell the family how the crash happened or that an officer was involved until almost a week later.
"We are just frustrated," said Michael Schearer, McCoy's father. "It's hard to have closure if you don't know what happened."
The accident occurred at the intersection of Potee Street and Patapsco Avenue in Brooklyn, but the city's department crash team did not respond because members of the crash team were attending the funeral of Officer James Fowler at St. Mark Church in Catonsville Monday. A crash team from the Maryland Transportation Authority investigated.
"The delay was for the process of transferring paperwork over from a state agency to a city agency," said Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. "There's still a lot of loose ends," including the results for the drivers' blood alcohol level and drug tests, he said.
Schearer said a city police officer notified the family of his son's death early Monday morning, but he was not able to reach the officer that week and no one from the transportation authority contacted him.
"We didn't have any contact with anyone," Schearer said, saying he did not believe police deliberately withheld information, but that the family was upset it took so long to learn what had happened.
He said he didn't realize a police officer was involved in the crash until reading news reports: "We read [about it]," he said. "That was the first time we heard anything about the other person."
On Saturday, a city police officer contacted the family and gave it more details, but the crash remains under investigation.
"They called it the perfect storm of miscommunication," Schearer said. "I understand it takes a while" for the investigation, but he said the family was told nothing about what happened to McCoy.
Authorities did not notify media of the accident until Thursday afternoon, when Annapolis police sent out a news release saying one of their off-duty officers had been involved in a fatal crash. That night, city police referred questions to the Transportation Authority. Spokesman Sgt. Jonathan Green confirmed the accident had occurred but declined to release additional details, including the victim's name, saying he could not comment further while the investigation remained ongoing.
On Saturday, Guglielmi confirmed the victim's identity.
Guglielmi said, "These accidents take time to investigate, especially in the case of a fatality. I know [officers] reached out," but he said that there was little information to release.
He said McCoy was riding with Philip Dornberger, 19, of Pasadena east on Patapsco Avenue when he collided with Officer James Salyers, who was driving south on Potee Street in a Cadillac CTS.
Police said it is unclear at this point which driver had the red light.
McCoy was ejected and died later that night at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. His memorial service was held Friday afternoon at the Singleton Funeral Home in Glen Burnie.
Salyers, 51, joined Annapolis police Aug. 26 and has been placed on administrative duty, according to Annapolis police. He was off-duty at the time and was driving his personal vehicle, police said.
Schearer said McCoy was most likely visiting friends in the area when the crash occurred.
He said his son lived at home and worked at the Walmart in Severn. He loved skateboarding: "He took his skateboard everywhere."
Schearer said McCoy was the loving big brother, leaving behind three siblings, 16, 3 and 1 year old.
"We told them, but they didn't quite understand," Schearer said.
