A Baltimore police officer was killed and his partner was seriously injured yesterday when their helicopter crashed at the B&O; Railroad Museum after nearly clipping the dome of the historic roundhouse while searching for a stolen car.

The pilot, Barry W. Wood, 50, is the second city officer to die in five days. The crash occurred as the funeral for Harold J. Carey ended, sending officers dressed for a burial racing from a cemetery to the wreckage on West Pratt Street.

"The Baltimore Police Department is in shock and disbelief," Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier said last night.

Witnesses reported seeing the year-old, two-seat Schweizer 300C chopper known as "Foxtrot" circling low over houses about 2: 30 p.m. with plumes of smoke pouring out the back. It then plummeted to the ground, skidded into an iron fence surrounding the museum's entrance and burst into flames.

"It was coming down with smoke," said Andre Carey, 10, who was at a small playground across from the museum. "When I saw it hit the gate, I ran because I was so scared."

Wood, a 27-year veteran who flew a helicopter during the Vietnam War, was rushed to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Dr. Thomas M. Scalea, chief of trauma surgery, said Wood's heart and lungs had stopped, but doctors were able to resuscitate him.

Doctors got the officer into surgery, where he was given 150 units of blood. Scalea said that "despite heroic efforts," Wood's heart failed again and he was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. He is survived by his wife, Martha.

The passenger in the helicopter was identified as Officer Mark A. Keller, 43, a 21-year veteran. He was working as an aerial observer. Scalea said he suffered a broken elbow and a spinal fracture but was "conscious and speaking" last night.

At an 11 p.m. news conference, Officer Gary McLhinney, the president of the police union, called the two deaths "the most tragic events in the history of our agency. But we will get through this."

Earlier in the day, the mood at the downtown hospital was somber as officers poured in to console one another.

Sixteen motorcycle officers who had just escorted the lengthy funeral procession from West Baltimore to Timonium turned around at the cemetery to accompany Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and Frazier to the trauma center.

A police chaplain stood by in a first-floor hospital waiting area as two unidentified family members emerged from a room with a police lieutenant. Both were tearful and were comforted by other relatives who had just arrived.

The crash occurred about 2: 30 p.m., and debris forced police to close several blocks along West Pratt Street.

John H. Ott, executive director of the B&O; Railroad Museum, said he watched from his office window as police sped east on West Pratt Street. He then saw the chopper fly low over the century-old roundhouse, which holds a collection of vintage locomotives and railroad cars.

Moments later, Ott said, he heard what sounded like a loud bang or an explosion. Other witnesses reported hearing a succession of what sounded like gunshots but actually was the chopper's spinning propeller hitting the museum fence as the crumpled aircraft lay on its side.

Ott said none of the museum's buildings or railroad cars was hit, and no visitors were in the parking lot. He said perhaps 40 people were touring the museum at the time of the crash, along with about two dozen museum staffers.

Officers on the ground abandoned their search, losing the car, and rushed to the crash. They pulled out Keller and carried him to the middle of a parking lot. The pilot was trapped in the wreckage for several minutes before firefighters cut him out.

Police said last night that Keller had seen a stolen car and had radioed for officers on the ground to stop it. Keller was helping the officers locate the car when the craft experienced an apparent mechanical failure.

Weinhold said Wood knew the helicopter was in trouble and managed to dispatch a distress signal over his radio, twice calling out "10-50 Red, 10-50 Red," which means an imminent crash.

Police said the chopper hit a light pole, then fell onto West Pratt Street and skidded through the tall iron fence. The aircraft ended up on its left side, its cockpit destroyed and its tail sticking out onto the museum's entrance way.

A stream of onlookers converged at the scene, including residents of the modest rowhouse community, children on their way home from school and people returning from work.

Joyce Lathe heard the crash from the second floor of her rowhouse in the 100 block of Poppleton St. a half-block away and ran outside to see what happened.

"When I got down, it was smoking," she said. "It was a bad scene. Parts of the plane were splattered all around."

The wreckage was moved to Martin State Airport in Middle River, where the helicopter unit is based. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were en route last night.

Yesterday's crash was the sixth time that a city police helicopter has crashed or made an emergency landing since 1977. It was the first time a fatality occurred.

Several past crashes have been caused by mechanical failures, but investigators declined to speculate last night on the cause of the latest crash. Weinhold would only attribute it to "some type of malfunction."

The maintenance history of the craft that went down yesterday could not be ascertained last night.

The city sold its fleet of three choppers to Helicopter Transport Services Inc. in 1996 for $476,912. The company leases the aircraft back to the Police Department. The company had performed maintenance for years before the sale.

The police union criticized the sale at the time, saying the cost-cutting move would hamper the unit's ability to help officers on the street, chase car thieves and find elusive suspects.

McLhinney said at the time that Helicopter Transport Services rTC might become lax in correcting maintenance problems to save money. Company representatives could not be reached last night, but they denied the charges then.

Federal records show that one crash has involved Helicopter Transport Services. In August 1995, a helicopter not based in Middle River was flying over a field in Bingham, Maine, when it went down, causing one minor injury. The NTSB ruled the cause was pilot error.

The pilot in last night's crash is the 99th city police officer to die in the line of duty since 1870. The last time city police suffered such a devastating loss in such a short time was in September 1992, when two officers were shot in the head, one fatally, on successive days.

Previous forced landings

Nov. 12, 1997: City police helicopter makes an emergency landing in Patterson Park after a warning light signaled a problem in the transmission gear. Craft was not damaged; no one was injured.

July 17, 1997: City police helicopter responding to a burglar-alarm call at a store crashes on The Alameda after hitting a tree while trying to make an emergency landing. Two officers were injured.

Aug. 12, 1995: City police helicopter tracking a dirt-bike rider crashed in Easterwood Park in the Greater Rosemont section of West Baltimore. Two officers suffered minor injuries.

Oct. 18, 1992: City police helicopter assisting with a car-theft arrest crashed in the middle of a street in Walbrook. Two officers received serious injuries. Helicopter was destroyed.

Sept. 24, 1977: City police helicopter on its way to an auto-theft call forced to land on North Avenue between Charles Street and Maryland Avenue because of a broken drive shaft to its engine. One officer received minor injuries.

Pub Date: 11/05/98