A Baltimore police officer shot a motorist in the face -- critically wounding him -- after the man charged toward him with an iron mallet in Southeast Baltimore, a police spokesman said.

The injured man, Michael A. McCormick, 39, of the 1900 block of Ramblewood Road in Northeast Baltimore was in critical condition last night at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Police said they initially tried to stop Mr. McCormick's charge by spraying him with chemical Mace, but he was unaffected.

Police spokesman Doug Price said Mr. McCormick had been involved in a minor two-car accident on O'Donnell Street near the Interstate 95 exit when Officers Darryle Blake, 21, and Reginald McNeill, 23, arrived to investigate about 5:40 p.m.

Mr. McCormick was in the driver's seat of his Pontiac Grand Am when the officers asked him to step out of the car.

He was smoking a pipe that investigators believe contained some type of drug, possibly crack cocaine, Agent Price said.

Mr. McCormick -- who is 6-foot-2, 275 pounds -- reached under his car seat and pulled out a mallet, got out of the car and began threatening the officers with it, Agent Price said.

It was at that point that one of the officers sprayed him in the face with the Mace, but it apparently did not slow him down, Agent Price said.

"He continued to advance on the officers and began a full frontal assault, raising the mallet over his head as if he was getting ready to strike them," he said.

Officer Blake fired several shots from his service pistol, police said.