A Harford County sheriff's deputy and a Havre de Grace police officer were injured and their patrol cars heavily damaged in separate accidents last week, law enforcement officials said.
One of the accidents was blamed for a two-hour power outage for about 1,450 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers.
A sheriff's department spokesman said a 33-year-old Street man was arrested Wednesday on charges of motor vehicle theft a few hours after the 1984 Ford truck he was driving struck two vehicles, one of them a deputy's cruiser, at an accident scene on Route 165.
Matthew Irvin Kern of the 1300 block of Macton Road was apprehended later at his home and was released on his own recognizance after a hearing before a District Court commissioner in Bel Air, said Sgt. Edward Hopkins, the spokesman.
Sheriff's investigators said the truck crossed the center line on Route 165 near Clermont Road about 2:30 p.m., caromed off the side of a 1986 Ford pickup and rammed a deputy's patrol car.
The truck driver then was seen fleeing the accident scene, authorities said.
The deputy, Lt. Edsel Rector, had seen the truck and pickup collide and had driven onto the shoulder in an effort to get out of the way. But the oncoming truck struck his patrol car nearly head-on, the force driving it into an embankment, authorities said.
Lieutenant Rector was taken to Fallston General Hospital, where he was treated for shoulder, rib and leg injuries and released, said Sgt. Wesley Picha, traffic investigation supervisor for the county sheriff's office.
The driver of the pickup, John Canigliaro, of the 4000 block of Miller Road, Kingsville, was not injured, Sergeant Hopkins said.
Mr. Kern, who was also charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, suffered minor injuries, but refused medical treatment, the sergeant said.
The investigation is continuing and charges on other traffic violations are pending, the sergeant said.
At 5:45 p.m. last Sunday, Patrolman 1st Class Jonathan S. LaCotti of the Havre de Grace Police Department received minor injuries when a 1986 Nissan truck slammed into his patrol car while it was parked on the shoulder of Route 155.
The patrol car had emergency lights flashing and road flares behind it, a police spokesman said.
Police said Officer LaCotti was standing behind his patrol car when the Nissan, driven by Richard Cecil Edwards, 37, of the 500 block of Principio Road, Port Deposit, drove onto the shoulder of the roadway to pass stopped vehicles and struck the police car.
Investigators said Officer LaCotti was knocked into a ditch by the impact and his patrol car was pushed about 100 feet into a utility pole support wire.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. officials said the accident caused two fuses on the utility pole to blow, resulting in a two-hour power outage for about 1,450 BGE customers in the Havre de Grace area.
Officer LaCotti was taken to Harford Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released later Sunday night, police said.
Mr. Edwards was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Ralph J. Baker, 37, of the 300 block of S. Washington St. in Havre de Grace, was a passenger in the Nissan.
He was treated at the hospital and released, police said.
State police charged Mr. Edwards with driving while intoxicated and making an unsafe lane change.