Assault, Child Abuse Arrest
OCEAN CITY — A Pennsylvania man was arrested last week after allegedly assaulting a woman and a child at an uptown condo.
Around 1:25 a.m. last Wednesday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers were dispatched to a condo at 80th Street for a reported domestic assault. According to police reports, the caller stated she was bleeding and needed the police. OCPD officers arrived at the scene and set up a perimeter.
Officers were able to have the victim and her three children exit the building from the back-porch area. The victim reportedly told police she was too afraid to use the front door because she would have to walk past the room where the suspect, later identified as Joshua McIntosh, 34, of Munhall, Pa., was located.
Officers brought the victim and her children to a patrol vehicle to provide them with a safe location. The officers attempted to contact McIntosh at the front door of the condo for about 45 minutes, according to police reports. The victim had signs of physical injury. OCPD officers gained entry to the condo and located McIntosh sleeping in one of the bedrooms. He was taken into custody at that point.
After being read his rights, McIntosh agreed to speak with the officers, according to police reports. He reportedly had fresh scratch marks on his chest, but when asked how he got the scratch marks, he said “nothing.” He also reportedly had a cut on his forehead, but would not say how he got that injury either.
Police escorted McIntosh to a patrol vehicle and transported him to the Public Safety Building. While awaiting booking, McIntosh reportedly told the officer, “I really [expletive deleted] up.” McIntosh told police he and the victim were in an abusive relationship and incidents such as this were a common occurrence.
Officers interviewed the victim and learned McIntosh had reportedly assaulted her juvenile son as well. The victim told police McIntosh bit the child’s thumb. The victim told police the incident began when the juvenile began asking McIntosh questions, according to police reports.
McIntosh reportedly became enraged and starting pounding on the walls. When the victim attempted to gain McIntosh’s attention by slapping him, McIntosh reportedly smashed her into a wall. The victim told police she and McIntosh began to wrestle, and he overpowered her, slamming her to the floor, according to police reports.
The victim reportedly told the officers McIntosh pinned her to the ground with her knees pinned to her chest, causing her to gasp for air. McIntosh reportedly tried to choke the victim with the cord to a blow dryer. The victim told police she could not remember certain parts of the incident and was not sure if she had lost consciousness, according to police reports.
The victim had numerous visible injuries including redness on both sides of her face, bruises on her elbows and was bleeding from the mouth. She refused medical treatment. The juvenile victim also had redness on his thumb. McIntosh was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and child abuse. McIntosh was taken before a District Court Commissioner and was ordered to be held without bond.
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Assault, Drug Charges
OCEAN CITY — A Baltimore woman was arrested last week at a downtown hotel after allegedly assaulting her daughter.
Around 9:40 p.m. last Wednesday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to a hotel at 33rd Street in reference to a disorderly female. The officer met with the hotel manager, who reported there was a female yelling and pounding on the door of a room on the third floor demanding to enter the room. The manager wanted the suspect trespassed from the hotel, according to police reports.
The officer reportedly met with one of the occupants of the room who said her mother, identified as Cherece Benjamin, 46, of Baltimore, had assaulted her. The alleged victim had a scratch on her arm with swelling around it, according to police reports. The victim reportedly told police she was staying in the room with Benjamin and they had only recently started talking again after Benjamin had stabbed her.
The victim reportedly told police she had an argument with Benjamin, during which Benjamin grabbed her by the hair, pulling braids out of her head. It was during the altercation that the victim received the scratches on her arm. The victim told the officer Benjamin reached for a fanny pack, in which the victim knew Benjamin kept knives. The victim told police she had been stabbed by Benjamin before, according to police reports.
The victim’s boyfriend was able to keep Benjamin from the fanny pack and separated the two, pushing Benjamin out of the room, according to police reports. Benjamin reportedly yelled and banged on the door to gain re-entry, which is when the police were called. By now, a crowd of people had come out of their hotel rooms to see what the disturbance was about, according to police reports.
Benjamin was arrested at that point. During a search of Benjamin’s fanny pack, paraphernalia used for ingesting powder cocaine was reportedly located. Benjamin was charged with second-degree assault, possession of cocaine and possession of paraphernalia.
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Traffic Stop Leads To Arrest
OCEAN CITY — A Baltimore man was arrested last week after allegedly providing a false name to a police officer during a traffic stop and then fleeing from the scene.
Around 9:35 p.m. last Thursday, an Ocean City Police Department officer tracked a vehicle going 52 mph in a 35-mph zone in the area of 12th Street and Philadelphia Avenue. The officer conducted a traffic stop and the driver identified himself as Elijah Crandell. The driver told the officer he had no identifying information on his person. He also reportedly told the officer he did not have a driver’s license, but only held a learner’s permit from Maryland.
The officer returned to his patrol vehicle and did a license check on Elijah Crandell. The officer found a license record for Elijah Crandell, but the picture attached to the record was not the driver of the vehicle he had pulled over. The officer also located a warrant for a person named Letray Lee and at the bottom of the warrant, an alert indicated Lee often used the alias Elijah Crandell.
The officer was able to determine the individual whom he had pulled over was indeed Letray Lee, 25, of Baltimore. When the officer approached the vehicle again, Lee switched the transmission into drive and accelerated rapidly away from the traffic stop while spinning the vehicle’s wheels, according to police reports.
Lee reportedly drove west on North Division Street and through a stop sign on St. Louis Avenue. The officer followed and found the vehicle parked in a driveway at Caroline Street with its lights illuminated and its passenger outside the vehicle. However, Lee was no longer on the scene.
Witness alerted OCPD officers a male matching Lee’s description had been seen running south away from the vehicle. Lee was located at Worcester Street and Philadelphia Avenue and was taken into custody. Lee told the officer he knowingly provided the identity of his cousin, Elijah Crandell, because he had warrants out for his arrest, according to police reports.
Lee reportedly told the officer he had used the alias in the past and that he fled the scene because he did not want to go to jail. Lee reportedly told the officer he fled on foot after abandoning the vehicle and hid under a business’s staircase before police located him.
He was charged with assuming an identity to avoid prosecution, obstructing and hindering, making a false statement to a police officer and numerous traffic offenses. Lee was held initially on a $15,000 bond, but was later released after posting a $2,500 bond.
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Wrong Way Driver Arrested
OCEAN CITY — A Delaware man was arrested last week on multiple charges after allegedly driving the wrong way on Coastal Highway and being found with martial arts weapons in his vehicle.
Around 1:15 a.m. last Wednesday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer patrolling in the midtown area observed a vehicle at the traffic signal at 59th Street with its left-hand turn signal on, indicating the driver intended to turn north. When the light changed, the driver, later identified as Nicholas Focht, 18, of Clayton, Del., drove north in the southbound lanes of Coastal Highway, according to police reports.
The officer reportedly activated his emergency lights and initiated a traffic stop. Focht was driving and there were three passengers in the vehicle. When the driver approached the vehicle, an odor of marijuana emanated from the passenger compartment. Each of the occupants was asked to step out of the vehicle.
Focht reportedly told the officer he did not have a license to driver in Maryland or any other state. A search of the vehicle revealed containers of raw marijuana, partially smoked hand-rolled marijuana cigarettes throughout the vehicle, various items of paraphernalia, a spring-assisted camouflage knife in the driver side door map pocket and another knife in the center console.
Focht was arrested for possession of martial arts weapons, driving the wrong way on a one-way street, driving without a license and other traffic offenses.