Police Beat
Officer acquitted
A Bowie Police officer was acquitted of assaulting his wife after she refused to testify against him in court, a prosecutor said.
Cpl. Antoine G. Gibson, 33, was found not guilty by a District Court judge in Harford County, where he and his wife live, said Harford Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Bober. Maryland has a marital privilege law that a husband and wife can decline to testify against each other, although the law can only be invoked once during the course of a marriage, she said.
Gibson and his wife, Tanya, 29, got into a physical altercation in their home March 30, according to court records. Mrs. Gibson has related charges of assault and obstructing and hindering police who responded to the incident pending against her and has requested a jury trial, Bober said.
Six Flags knifing
A 29-year-old man was stabbed in the back early Saturday evening at Six Flags America, Prince George's Police said. He had gotten into an argument with three men who fled the park and possibly got into a blue Honda. His injuries were not serious.
Store held up
The PCC Wireless store on High Bridge Road was robbed Friday morning, Bowie Police said. A man came into the store and handed the clerk a note that said, "I have a gun in the bag give me all the $20 and $10 and don't make me ..." The sentence was incomplete, perhaps because he wrote it in a hurry and didn't have time to finish it, said Deputy Chief John Nesky.
The clerk gave him money and he ran off. He was described as black, about 5-feet-7-inches or 5-feet-8-inches tall, aged 20 to 23 with a medium complexion, light eyes and short dreadlocks.
Teen robbed
A 15-year-old boy was beaten and robbed June 9 around 10:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of Kenhill Drive, Bowie Police said. The boy said he was walking home from work when three youths began punching him and knocked him to the ground. One grabbed his backpack containing "various items of no monetary value," according to a police report.
The attackers drove away toward Route 197 in a medium-sized, gold-colored, four-door car. He declined medical treatment at the scene.
Invader sentenced
The man who posed as a lawn maintenance serviceman and forced his way into a Glenn Dale woman's house at gunpoint, stealing her car and some cash, was sentenced Friday to 40 years behind bars. Earlier, a jury convicted him of robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault and using a handgun in commission of a felony.
Donald Earl Tate, 42, of Takoma Park went to the woman's home early the evening of Sept. 14 saying he was available to mow her lawn. When she opened her screen door to hand him her telephone number so he could come at a later time, he forced open the door, flashed a handgun and burst inside.
Pointing the gun at her, he demanded her car keys and purse. He grabbed her arm and led her into the living room where she gave him the keys and money; he also took her cell phone. He drove off in her car.
Three days later, police spotted him driving the car and arrested him.
