In Baltimore City

Man sought in shooting of officer during struggle

Police continued to search yesterday for the man who tried to wrest away a police officer's gun in the 2900 block of Hilldale Ave. in Northwest Baltimore on Friday night and fired a shot that deflected off the officer's badge.

The officer, James Howard, was patrolling near Reisterstown Road about 6 p.m. when he noticed a man acting suspiciously in an alley, police said. When Howard, 24, told the man to come forward, the man refused and then grabbed for the officer's gun.

The gun went off and the bullet struck Howard, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, in his badge. As the fight continued, Howard ejected the gun's magazine and fired a round into the air to empty its chamber and keep the man from shooting him again, police say. The man then fled on foot.

Howard, who graduated from the police academy last month, was treated for minor injuries at Maryland Shock Trauma Center and released Friday night. "He's doing fine," police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe said yesterday. "He's shook up, of course, but he's doing very well."

UMB workers approve AFSCME representation

Staff members at the University of Maryland, Baltimore voted last week to be represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The vote was 457 to 284 to create a bargaining unit that will include about 1,100 clerical, accounting, technical, housekeeping and facilities maintenance employees.

The school is the 12th Maryland campus where employees have chosen to be represented by AFSCME.

In Anne Arundel

Virginia man, 72, charged with having untaxed liquor

ANNAPOLIS - Agents working for Comptroller William Donald Schaefer arrested a 72-year-old Virginia man Friday after they stopped him on Route 450 carrying 15 cases of untaxed liquor worth $1,477, which they say he bought at the U.S. Naval Station Annapolis Liquor Mart.

Military personnel and retirees may take no more than 1 gallon of tax-free distilled spirits off the base. The agents charged James Luther Harrington of Fieldale, Va., with unlawfully possessing untaxed alcoholic beverages, a misdemeanor carrying a $10,000 fine and up to five years in jail.