Eastern District officers lost three drug suspects in a chase on Nolpark Court Saturday night but recovered 42 bags of crack cocaine the three apparently dropped while running, county police said.
Officers found the 9.2 grams of a substance that tested positive for crack cocaine in woods near the 7900 block of Nolpark Court. The drugs had a street value of $920 to $1,000, police said.
Narcotics detectives and uniformed officers from the Eastern District were investigating complaints of an open-air drug market at Nolpark Court and Crainmont Road about 9 p.m. when they saw three men beckoning to someone in the woods. When uniformed officers approached, the three men bolted into the woods and escaped.
Officers found the cocaine after searching the woods, police said.
Man selling trees robbed at knifepoint
A Cockeysville man who was selling Christmas trees at the Beltway Crossing Shopping Center Saturday night was robbed at knifepoint by a man from whom he had bought a portfolio folder two days earlier, county police said.
Robert James Burke, 26, of the first block of Valley Frost Court handed over $90 to the man after being threatened with a 4-inch knife about 8 p.m. at the shopping center in the 6300 block of Ritchie Highway. The robber jumped into a gray Ford with New York license tags and drove north.
Mr. Burke said the man had sold him the portfolio folder Thursday and was demanding its return Saturday. When Mr. Burke refused, the man pulled out the knife, pointed it at Mr. Burke's abdomen and said, "Well, how about some money then?" The victim was not injured in the incident, police said.