The Associated Press
BEL AIR, Md. (AP) _ A Harford County man is facing charges after allegedly dragging an off-duty Maryland state trooper who tried to stop him from driving recklessly among pedestrians in a parking lot Sunday morning.
Brian Delen, 28, of Bel Air, is charged with attempted murder, first and second degree assault and traffic offenses, state police said.
Trooper Nayim Sadik, 24, was wearing plain clothes and talking with friends in a shopping center parking lot at 3 a.m. Sunday when he saw Delen driving recklessly, police said.
Sadik held up his badge and approached the car, announcing that he was a state trooper and asking the driver to stop, police said.
The car then allegedly veered toward the trooper, causing Sadik to grab the driver’s door. He was dragged through the parking lot, the car swerving as it went, police said.
Delen then sprayed the trooper with pepper spray, causing Sadik to fall off the car, police said. Sadik was treated and released at a hospital for scrapes and bruises. Newark Police Search For Shooter Who Fired at Officer, Wounding Him The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) _ Police sought the occupants of a car who fired at a city police officer Sunday, wounding him but not causing life-threatening injuries.
Officer Patrick Cantalupo was shot by a group of men who drove by in a car while he and his partner, Juan Barreto, apprehended a suspect who was found to be in possession of narcotics, Newark police said.
Police said several men in a Dodge Intrepid drove past the two officers and fired, striking Cantalupo in the lower back. The bullet hit Cantalupo just below his bulletproof vest.
Cantalupo, 31, an 8-year veteran, was treated at University Hospital and released. Barreto, 31, was not injured.
Both officers are members of the Newark Police Department’s Neighborhood Enforcement and Stabilization Team, or NEST, which responds to citizen complaints of quality of life violations and violence.
Newark police said the Dodge Intrepid crashed into a Dodge Neon after the shooting, injuring a 31-year-old Newark woman. The car was reported stolen Saturday from the city’s East Ward.
The woman was treated at a hospital and released.
The occupants of the Intrepid abandoned the car and fled on foot, police said.