A 30-year-old man sought for skipping a court appearance faces a string of new charges - from theft to attempted murders of police officers - after allegedly fleeing an arrest attempt Tuesday night.
Police said the suspect was no stranger to them before he turned up on Disney Avenue, outside a Brooklyn Park liquor store, about 8 p.m. driving a red Dodge Shadow without a front license plate.
The rear plate had been stolen two days earlier, police said.
When Officer Kenneth Collier stopped the two-door car because of the missing plate, police said, two passengers tried to get out of the vehicle.
"They had a feeling he [the driver] was going to take off," said Sgt. Joseph Jordan, a police spokesman.
A second officer, James Mountcastle, who was assisting with the stop, initially kept the passengers from leaving the car. But when the driver put the car in gear as Collier reached in to get the ignition key, police said, Mountcastle pulled the other two out of the vehicle.
Collier was hanging onto the car and was hurled into the side of a pickup truck as the driver pulled off, police said. He was treated for minor injuries at North Arundel Hospital.
"It makes things easier when you have a picture, an address and know the area he frequents," Jordan said of the suspect, identified as Ronald Matthew Fisher, whose last known address was in the 3700 block of Fifth St., north of the city line, police said.
Police said they filed a string of charges against him, including four counts of attempted murder and assault, driving with a suspended license, fleeing and eluding police, reckless driving and theft.
The multiple counts of assault and attempted murder related to both officers and the two passengers, all of whom "were in danger," police said.
Fisher was sought in a bench warrant for failing to appear June 16 in county Circuit Court on a drug-distribution charge. He had been released last month from the county detention center - the latest of a string of jailings on theft and drug charges in recent years, court records show.
Police said the tag on the Dodge belonged to a Honda Civic reported stolen Sunday in West Baltimore. Investigators are asking anyone with information to call the county's Northern District at 410-222-6135 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 410-276-8888 for a potential reward.