Violent Crime Began Plummeting in Baltimore Just After Voters Fired Their Soros-Backed Prosecutor. Experts Say That's No Coincidence.

Homicides and other types of violent crime are dropping precipitously in a crime-ridden American city. It started shortly after Baltimore voters fired their progressive Soros-backed prosecutor in 2022—and experts say that's no coincidence.

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Trump DOJ Urges Maryland Supreme Court To Toss Lawsuits Seeking Climate Damages From Oil Companies

The Department of Justice is asking the Maryland supreme court to dismiss three local lawsuits, which accuse the nation's largest oil companies of selling products that they know cause global warming. It represents the first time the Trump DOJ has weighed in on such active litigation, which has become more common in recent years and seeks to extract crippling damages from oil companies.

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Watch: Pistol-whipping carjacker picks wrong car — and has instant regrets when pastor gives him shock of his life



New video shows a teen attempting an armed carjacking in crime-ridden Baltimore, but the intended victim — a prominent pastor — fought back and turned the tables on the crook.

Rev. Kenneth Moales Jr. — pastor of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bridgeport, Connecticut — was in Baltimore for a funeral in late June.

'I knew my life was at stake.'

Moales parked his car outside a seafood restaurant in the city's Upper Fells Point neighborhood just before 9 p.m. June 29, WBAL-TV reported.

A teen wearing a ski mask approached Moales' vehicle while the pastor was still inside it, the station said, adding that the teenager allegedly asked the pastor for help regarding his dead cell phone.

The teen — armed with a gun — ordered the pastor to exit his vehicle, WBAL said.

"When I looked at him, I knew like something about this wasn't right. I was looking to kind of drive away, and he immediately pulls up his ski mask," Moales told WBFF-TV. "Puts it up over his face, whips out the Glock, points it at the car, like, 'Get out the car.'"

Moales added to WJZ-TV, "He's placed materialism over my life, and unfortunate[ly] for him, he picked the wrong car."

The pastor made a split-second decision to fight back against the young carjacker.

"I immediately got into a fight. So I just punched him in the face. I reach out for the gun," Moales recalled to WBFF.

Surveillance video shows Moales tackling the teen and slamming him on the wet pavement for approximately 20 seconds.

Moales also told WBFF, "I really believe I was fighting for my life and, more importantly, trying to get home to my wife and children."

Citing charging documents, WBAL reported that the carjacker pistol-whipped the pastor in the head.

RELATED: Watch a California family unleash a paintball barrage to thwart thieves from stealing catalytic converters from cars in their driveway

 

During the melee, Moales recounted to WJZ that he was able to wrestle the gun away from the teenager.

What's more, the pastor offered the teen an opportunity to get away.

Moales recalled to WBFF, "I realize how young he is, and that's when I tell him, 'Hey, I'm a pastor. Relax, calm down. I'm a pastor. I'm not going to press charges. You know, I'm going to let you go, but you’ve got to get out of here.'"

However, the carjacker didn't accept the offer — and proceeded to steal the pastor's vehicle.

"I told him, 'I'm a father, a husband, and a pastor, and you can just go now, and I won't press charges,'" Moales recounted to WVIT-TV. "But even after all of that — after I had let him go and given him a chance to not face charges — he still drove off in my car."

He added to WBFF, "You would think once I let him know I was a pastor that there would be, in one way or another, some level of remorse, and there was neither, none at all. He [couldn't] care less. And that’s what’s left me hurt — I’m not going to say broken — [but] hurt, concerned, and knowing what my new mission is."

The pastor suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to a statement from his congregation.

WJZ reported that within hours of the carjacking, officers with the Baltimore Police Department located the pastor's vehicle with three suspects inside — ages 15, 16, and 19.

All three teenagers were arrested and charged with auto theft, WBAL said.

The two minors were not identified because they are underage, but WBAL identified the 19-year-old suspect as Mehkai Tindal, according to charging documents. It isn't clear which of the three attacked Moales.

RELATED: Alabama churchgoer in his 70s hailed as a hero for bludgeoning, apprehending gunman in deadly church shooting

  

The harrowing experience provided the pastor with an eye-opening perspective — and a new mission.

Moales told WVIT, "I have forgiven the young man — but this violent crime just shows me that I need to work even harder to help young people right here in Bridgeport, because a lot of these kids are hopeless and this problem is not unique to Baltimore."

The pastor added to WBFF, "If we don't commit to educating this generation in a significant way, what happened to me is just a beginning. If they'll, if they'll pistol-whip a pastor, you about know what they'll do to my members."

Moales noted to WBAL, "My prayer today is, 'God, thank you for covering me. Thank you for my life.'"

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Justice for elderly pro-lifer beaten to a pulp outside Planned Parenthood takes brutal turn



On May 26, 2023, pro-life advocates Mark Crosby, then 73 years old, and Dick Schaefer, then 84 years old, were praying, holding pro-life signs, and offering pro-life materials to people entering a Baltimore Planned Parenthood, Catholic Review said.

Outside the abortion facility, a male by the name of Patrick Brice reportedly was arguing with Schaefer about abortion.

'I was shocked.'

Brice — a decades-younger male whom Crosby estimates stands well over 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds — then is seen on surveillance video actually charging at Schaefer and tackling the 84-year-old backward into a large flower pot.

 Image source: Baltimore Police

 Image source: Baltimore Police

 Image source: Baltimore Police

According to WBAL-TV, a witness said Schaefer was out cold "for several minutes."

As you might expect, Crosby — dressed in a blue and white "pro-life" T-shirt — comes over to help his friend.

RELATED: Elderly pro-lifer beaten to a pulp in vicious attack outside Planned Parenthood; another elderly pro-lifer knocked out cold in same attack, witness says

 Image source: Baltimore Police

But Brice is in Crosby's path.

 Image source: Baltimore Police

And Brice easily knocks the 73-year-old down to the sidewalk.

 Image source: Baltimore Police

 Image source: Baltimore Police

One might be inclined to assume Brice by this point would make his exit — but alas, no. Instead he proceeds to pulverize his next victim.

First he punches Crosby in the head.

RELATED: Cops release surveillance images of man believed to be in his 20s who brutally punched, kicked face of elderly pro-lifer outside Planned Parenthood

 Image source: Baltimore Police

 Image source: Baltimore Police

Then Brice rears back his right foot and kicks Crosby in the face before finally walking away.

RELATED: Blaze News original: 'Barbaric' attacker destroys elderly pro-lifer's face outside Planned Parenthood. Victim awaits justice.

  Image source: Baltimore Police

 

  Image source: Baltimore Police

 

  Image source: Baltimore Police

 

It should be noted that YouTube age-restricted the Baltimore Police video of the attack on Schaefer and Crosby, so you can only view it there.

Here's a local video report, though.

RELATED: Blaze News original: Elderly pro-lifer energized over new trial for thug who pulverized his face outside Planned Parenthood

  

Local pro-life advocate John Roswell told LifeSiteNews at the time of the attack that Crosby’s “plate bone in his upper right cheek is completely fractured” and that he “is bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye, and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal" as a result of the brutal beatdown.

Crosby told Blaze News that he was blind in his right eye "for nine days" after the attack, that he spent three days at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, that he was "spitting blood," and that a piece of his iris is missing.

RELATED: Leftist state lawmaker — an ex-football lineman — posts video of himself harassing 'old white lady' saying rosary by Planned Parenthood

  Image source: John Roswell/American Center for Law and Justice (left); Mark Crosby (right), both used by permission

He also told Blaze News he still experiences foreign body sensation, which is a "feeling that something's in your eye and you can't get it out. But I can live with that. Babies are being murdered. I give it up for them."

A few weeks after the attack, police released surveillance images of the culprit. However, for the next year, nothing but crickets.

Brice arrested

Police finally arrested Brice on July 1, 2024, and he was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and assault on an elderly person 65 and over, according to the American Center for Law and Justice. He was released on his own recognizance, Catholic Review said.

The criminal trial for Brice took place in early February 2025 in Baltimore Circuit Court. The Baltimore Banner reported that Brice, 28, exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and did not testify.

But Brice's attorney — Assistant Public Defender Matthew Connell — argued that his client didn't intend to cause serious physical injury, which is needed to support a conviction for first-degree assault, the Banner said.

Connell also called Schaefer and Crosby “old white men” who say “the most vile things” to women and see themselves as “religious martyrs," Catholic Review reported.

“Somebody snapped on them,” Connell argued, according to the Banner.

The attacker's attorney added that his client “didn’t mean to hurt them that bad" and “made a mistake," the Banner reported.

Crosby told Blaze News that video of Brice's beatdown of him and Schaefer was shown in court and that one juror was "crying," while "others were looking away" from the violence onscreen.

Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Sudberry in her opening remarks called Brice's attack “brazen, callous, barbaric behavior," Catholic Review said. She concluded that "Mr. Brice is a grown man. He’s not a child. He knew what he was doing," the Banner said.

RELATED: HS official screams at teen pro-life activists: 'I don’t give a f*** what you think Jesus tells me'

  Patrick Brice. Image source: Mark Crosby, used by permission

Hung jury on most serious charge for attack on Crosby

The jury deliberated for about two hours and convicted Brice on two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment for his attacks on Schaefer and Crosby, the Banner said.

However, jurors acquitted Brice on one count of first-degree assault against Schaefer, the paper said.

As for the first-degree assault charge against Brice for attacking Crosby — knocking him to the ground, punching him in his head, and kicking him in his face while he was on his back on the sidewalk — the Banner said the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Crosby was then left waiting for justice.

Attorney Terrell Roberts — retained by the Thomas More Society to assist Crosby amid deliberations — told Blaze News that Brice's misdemeanor convictions for second-degree assault and reckless endangerment don't include jail time in sentencing guidelines. The Banner also reported that Brice had no previous criminal record.

Roberts told Blaze News that while Brice's attack on Crosby was a "pretty egregious act," there's a "good chance" a judge might not sentence Brice to any jail time.

But soon there was some good news for Crosby. The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office in March said it would retry Brice on the first-degree assault charge, the Baltimore Banner reported.

Roberts told Blaze News that part of getting a first-degree assault conviction on Brice — which could result in a jail sentence of 25 years — would be showing how badly impaired Crosby's vision became after his attack. Roberts said the damage to Crosby's right eye — specifically the iris — is "permanent" and Crosby suffers from "extreme photosensitivity," meaning that he essentially has the use of only one eye, which is a "serious disability."

He also told Blaze News that the prosecution would be able to present other documentation, such as the CT scan of Crosby's head, which showed that the "floor of the orbital bone was fractured so badly" that fat actually was seeping through it.

"We have to win this," Crosby told Blaze News in the aftermath of the new trial announcement, adding that he believes Brice has "got to go to jail, or the pro-aborts will think they can get away with this."

New trial, old story

Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant — who presided over February's jury trial for Brice — also presided over Wednesday's retrial of Brice's first-degree assault charge, the Baltimore Banner reported.

At the conclusion of the bench trial — there was no jury this time — Bryant acquitted Brice of first-degree assault, the Banner said.

Her reason? The paper said the judge concluded that it was all about Crosby's intent. Does video of the attack show him rushing over to help his friend? Or does it show 73-year-old Crosby running over to fight Brice — a bigger, taller 20-something who just knocked Schaefer out cold?

The Banner said Bryant agreed that Brice's attack against Crosby was unjustified — but disagreed with the prosecution's contention that it was unprovoked.

Gavel down. Case closed. Brice is scheduled for an Aug. 7 sentencing, the paper said, adding that he’s free on his own recognizance. Roberts noted to Blaze News that Brice's acquittal means he can't be tried again on the same charge.

'This decision is one for the ages'

A flabbergasted Roberts in the aftermath of Bryant's decision told Blaze News that "this decision is one for the ages," adding that it was a "miscarriage of justice."

"I was shocked," he noted to Blaze News.

"The judge misapplied Maryland law," Roberts added to Blaze News. "She regarded Crosby's conduct as a provocation which lessened Brice's culpability. But it's clear from the evidence that Crosby's conduct was not a legal provocation. Crosby had a right to come and aid his friend, who had just been knocked unconscious. That cannot in any way legally be a provocation."

He added to Blaze News that it was the "most ridiculous decision I've seen in a long while."

"How can you claim a 73-year-old man provoked a man who just knocked out an 84-year-old man? It's legally absurd," Roberts remarked to Blaze News, adding that "any judge would have to find him guilty based on the video."

The Banner also reported that the judge read portions of Crosby's medical records in court, saying that he ignored directives from nurses and other hospital staff. In the end, Bryant deemed Crosby's testimony unreliable, the paper added.

Roberts told Blaze News he found it odd that Bryant focused so much of her attention on Crosby's interactions with nurses and hospital staff, as recorded in his medical records, instead of "what really mattered" in those records — namely, the severity of his injuries due to Brice's actions.

What's more, Crosby told Blaze News that Bryant stated in court that he could have "gone around Brice to help Dick Schaefer" rather than taking a path directly to his friend to give him aid. "So she's blaming me. ... I'm the bad guy."

A frustrated Crosby added to Blaze News that "now the pro-abort movement will know this, and violence will continue against us."

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Commuter beware: 68 bridges across US at risk of collapse!



March 26, 2024. It's a pitch black, wintry night in Baltimore. Frigid winds batter the maintenance workers patching potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a 1.6-mile lifeline high above the icy Patapsco River.

Then: disaster.

Since the Panama Canal expansion in 2016, vessels like the Dali haul up to 24,000 TEUs — making them massive floating cities older bridges weren’t built to endure.

The Dali, a 984-foot ship out of Singapore loaded with 4,700 containers, loses power leaving the Port of Baltimore.

No propulsion, no steering — just a 95,000-ton steel giant drifting. Minutes after a desperate mayday call at 1:27 a.m., it crashes into a pier at 6.5 knots.

The bridge collapses instantly. Built in 1977, it simply wasn’t designed to withstand impact from a ship that size.

Eight workers fall into the icy river; only two survive. Fifty thousand tons of debris now block Baltimore's port, eventually causing the regional economy a $1 billion loss.

RELATED: Wife of Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse victim remembers father of three as always 'fighting for us'

  Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

One year later, reconstruction of the bridge is still underway and not expected to be completed until 2028 — at a price of $2 billion.

Is the Golden Gate next?

Now imagine the same thing happening to any one of dozens of other bridges across the country. According to a recent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the danger is all too real.

The NTSB report calls for 68 bridges across 19 states to undergo urgent “vulnerability assessments” to determine if they can withstand a ship strike.

These bridges — including California’s Golden Gate Bridge, New York’s Brooklyn Bridge, and Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge — have two things in common: They all span major shipping lanes and were all built before 1991, predating the modern safety standards meant to address growing ship sizes.

The NTSB has given the bridge owners — an assortment of 30 different state departments of transportation, port authorities, and other entities — 30 days to provide updated evaluations of these structures.

Big ships, big problems

A bridge’s vulnerability stems from its age, design, and exposure to ship traffic. The Key Bridge, completed in 1977, handled smaller vessels in the 1980s — like one that grazed it in 1980 with minimal damage.

Today’s ships, however, are far larger. In the 1970s, they carried 800 containers. Since the Panama Canal expansion in 2016, vessels like the Dali haul up to 24,000 TEUs — making them massive floating cities older bridges weren’t built to endure. The NTSB found the Maryland Transportation Authority never adjusted its risk calculations for these modern giants.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has required updated assessments since 1991, following the NTSB's investigation of the 1980 collapse of Florida’s Sunshine Skyway, which killed 35. Maryland helped craft those rules but didn’t apply them to Key Bridge.

A vulnerability assessment uses a mathematical model, factoring in ship size, speed, traffic patterns, and bridge strength to produce a risk score. If it exceeds AASHTO’s limit, solutions like pier reinforcements or tugboat escorts can lower the danger.

New bridges have followed this federal mandate since 1994, but many older ones remain untested — until now.

Not urgent ... until it is

The NTSB doesn’t claim these 68 will fail tomorrow. The Golden Gate’s owners hired consultants in 2025, and New York’s Department of Transportation notes the East River rarely sees Dali-sized ships.

Still, the risk persists. Since 2021, over 300 ships lost propulsion in U.S. waters, often near bridges. The Key Bridge collapse serves as a stark warning, with six lives lost and massive economic and societal disruption that persists to this day.

Retrofitting bridges with pier reinforcements or tugboat escorts could cost millions per structure. The new Key Bridge carries a price tag of $1.7 to $1.9 billion, largely federally funded, with completion set for 2028. If several of the 68 bridges fail, losses could climb into the billions, disrupting ports like Long Beach or Miami and hammering national trade.

RELATED: Why Johnny can't build

  nojustice/Getty Images

Maryland’s MDTA argues the Dali’s owners bear responsibility, citing negligence. It settled with the Justice Department for $102 million in October 2024 after evidence of poor maintenance — faulty transformers and disabled backups.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy countered Maryland’s stance, noting that the state had decades to realize how vulnerable the bridge was to a ship strike.

"Not only did MDTA fail to conduct the vulnerability assessment on the Key Bridge, they did not provide, nor were they able to provide, NTSB the data needed to conduct the assessment," Homendy said. "We asked for that data, they didn't have it. We had to develop that data ourselves."

For commuters, crossing one of these 68 — like the Verrazzano-Narrows or Sunshine Skyway — means staying alert. Near-term changes might include stricter tugboat requirements or adjusted shipping lanes.

No more 'Green New Scam'

One promising sign is U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's recent announcement of nearly $4.9 billion in available funding from the Federal Highway Administration for major bridge projects (the Bridge Investment Program) and up to $500 million for repairing or replacing bridges in rural areas (the Competitive Highway Bridge Program).

According to Duffy, the removal of Biden-era environmental restrictions will make such spending far more effective than in the past:

The previous administration handcuffed critical infrastructure funding requirements to woke DEI and Green New Scam initiatives that diverted resources from the Department’s core mission. Under the Trump administration, America is building again.

Like all man-made structures, bridges testify both to our ingenuity — and to our all-too-human frailty. The NTSB's findings are a sobering reminder that we must never ignore the latter.

A Descent Into Poe's Maelstrom

Few American writers are as intriguing as Edgar Allan Poe. The author of stories that are still shockingly violent, Poe himself was something of a Jekyll and Hyde—sensitive and kind when sober, but manic and violent when drunk—who lived much of his life in debt after being raised by one of Richmond's richest families. Some of the more salacious details of his life are widely known. He married his cousin, Virginia, when she was 14, and would go on occasional month-longer benders, after which he would return home sick and exhausted. He died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 40 in 1849.

The post A Descent Into Poe's Maelstrom appeared first on .

Blaze News original: Elderly pro-lifer energized over new trial for thug who pulverized his face outside Planned Parenthood



Things couldn't have been worse for Mark Crosby, then 73 years old, when a decades-younger male he estimates stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds brutally punched and kicked his face and head outside a Baltimore Planned Parenthood in May 2023, shattering his cheekbone and eye socket and turning his face into a bloody pulp.

But things turned around in big way Thursday for Crosby. That's when the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office said it's planning to retry his 28-year-old attacker on a first-degree assault charge, the Baltimore Banner reported.

'They want us to get hurt again so we don't come back. But I'm not going away. I'm not backing down.'

"We have to win this," Crosby told Blaze News in the aftermath of the announcement, adding that he believes defendant Patrick Brice has "got to go to jail, or the pro-aborts will think they can get away with this."

At trial last month, Brice was convicted on two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment for his physical attacks on Crosby and fellow pro-life advocate Dick Schaefer, who was 84 years old at the time, the Banner noted in an earlier story.

While jurors acquitted Brice on one count of first-degree assault against Schaefer, the paper said they failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the first-degree assault charge against Brice for attacking Crosby — knocking him to the ground, punching him in his head, and kicking him in his face while he was on his back on the sidewalk. Surveillance video shows the whole thing.

Getting a new trial for the first-degree assault charge was important, because not pursuing it meant the very real possibility that Brice could skate past jail time altogether. Now that's back in play.

"They want us to get hurt again so we don't come back," Crosby told Blaze News of his five-days-a-week pro-life work with Schaefer in front of that Planned Parenthood. "But I'm not going away. I'm not backing down."

'He walks by me and smirks'

One might assume Brice — upon learning that he might be handed some serious jail time if a jury convicts him of first-degree assault — would have appeared at least somewhat serious or reflective, but Crosby told Blaze News that his attacker actually smirked at him on the street outside the courthouse Thursday.

"He walks by me and smirks," Crosby emphasized, adding that after walking farther down the street, Brice actually turned around and "looked my way" and waved.

Crosby told Blaze News he likened it to Brice saying to him, "Up yours, buddy. I'm still out on the street."

Indeed, Crosby told Blaze News that Brice "is a hero to some people in pro-abort community" for what Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Sudberry in her opening remarks last month said was a “brazen, callous, barbaric" attack against him and Schaefer.

On May 26, 2023, Crosby and Schaefer were praying, holding pro-life signs, and offering pro-life materials to people entering the abortion facility, Catholic Review said. Brice was arguing with Schaefer about abortion and is seen on surveillance video charging into Schaefer and tackling him backward into a large flower pot. According to WBAL-TV, a witness said the attacker knocked Schaefer out cold "for several minutes."

The video shows Crosby running over to help Schaefer, but Brice easily knocks Crosby down to the sidewalk before punching Crosby in the head, kicking Crosby in the face, and then walking away. You can view a video report here about the attack.

Local pro-life advocate John Roswell told LifeSiteNews at the time that Crosby’s “plate bone in his upper right cheek is completely fractured” and that he “is bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye, and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal.”

Crosby told Blaze News in a February interview that he was blind in his right eye "for nine days" after the attack, spent three days at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, was "spitting blood," and that a piece of his iris is missing.

He also told Blaze News he still experiences foreign body sensation, which is a "feeling that something's in your eye and you can't get it out. But I can live with that. Babies are being murdered. I give it up for them."

'It was a brutal attack, and it does merit a new trial, for sure.'

Attorney Terrell Roberts — retained by the Thomas More Society to assist Crosby amid deliberations — on Friday told Blaze News that the new trial is "good news" and that he anticipates it will provide a much greater emphasis on the serious nature of Crosby's injuries.

Roberts added to Blaze News that part of getting a first-degree assault conviction — which could result in a jail sentence of 25 years — is showing a jury how badly impaired Crosby's vision became after Brice's attack. Roberts said the damage to his client's right eye — specifically the iris — is "permanent" and Crosby suffers from "extreme photo sensitivity," meaning that he essentially has the use of only one eye, which is a "serious disability."

He also told Blaze News that the prosecution will be able to present other documentation, such as the CT scan of Crosby's head, which showed that the "floor of the orbital bone was fractured so badly" that fat actually was seeping through it.

"Next time around, this is going to be front and center," Roberts told Blaze News regarding showing a jury all the medical data at the new trial, which he expects will take place before August at the latest.

Roberts added to Blaze News that he will discuss with Sudberry — who will be prosecuting Brice's new trial — the issue of a hate crime in connection with the May 2023 attack on the pro-life men due to their "pretty obvious" religious beliefs.

Either way, for Roberts the first-degree assault charge is a "'no doubt about it' type of thing," particularly when video shows Brice kicking Crosby in the head.

"It was a brutal attack, and it does merit a new trial, for sure," Roberts told Blaze News.

February's trial, in which Brice escaped a verdict on first-degree assault, saw his attorney, assistant public defender Matthew Connell, calling Schaefer and Crosby “old white men” who say “the most vile things” to women and see themselves as “religious martyrs," the Catholic Review said.

Connell added that Brice “didn’t mean to hurt them that bad" and “made a mistake," the Banner reported.

Crosby told Blaze News that video of Brice's beatdown of Crosby and Schaefer was shown in court and that one juror was "crying," while "others were looking away" from the violence onscreen.

Anything else?

Brice's sentencing for his second-degree assault and reckless endangerment convictions was supposed to take place Thursday, but Baltimore Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant that day postponed sentencing until Aug. 7, the Banner reported.

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Blaze News original: 'Barbaric' attacker destroys elderly pro-lifer's face outside Planned Parenthood. Victim awaits justice.



Mark Crosby's life changed forever on May 26, 2023.

On that day, a then-unknown assailant brutally attacked Crosby and fellow pro-life advocate Dick Schaefer outside a Planned Parenthood in downtown Baltimore.

The attacker's attorney added that his client 'didn’t mean to hurt them that bad' and 'made a mistake,' the Banner reported.

Both men had been praying, holding pro-life signs, and offering pro-life materials to people entering the abortion facility, Catholic Review said, adding that Crosby and Schaefer — both retired — do that five days each week between 9 and 11 a.m.

The bearded suspect, who was arguing with Schaefer about abortion, is seen on surveillance video charging into Schaefer — who was 84 years old at the time — and tackling him backward him into a flower pot. According to WBAL-TV, a witness said the attacker knocked Schaefer out cold "for several minutes."

The video shows Crosby — who was 73 years old at the time — running over to help Schaefer, but the suspect easily knocks Crosby down to the sidewalk before punching Crosby in the head, kicking Crosby in the face, and then walking away. You can view a video report here about the attack.

Local pro-life advocate John Roswell told LifeSiteNews at the time that Crosby’s “plate bone in his upper right cheek is completely fractured” and that he “is bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye, and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal.”

Crosby told Blaze News in an interview this month that he was blind in his right eye "for nine days" after the attack, spent three days at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, was "spitting blood," and that a piece of his iris is missing.

He also told Blaze News he still experiences foreign body sensation, which is a "feeling that something's in your eye and you can't get it out. But I can live with that. Babies are being murdered. I give it up for them."

Finally, an arrest — more than a year later

On July 1, 2024 — more than a year later — police arrested Baltimore resident Patrick Brice in connection with the attack on Crosby and Schaefer.

Brice was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and assault on an elderly person 65 and over, according to the American Center for Law and Justice. He was released on his own recognizance, Catholic Review said.

The criminal trial for Brice took place earlier this month in Baltimore Circuit Court. The Baltimore Banner reported that Brice, 28, exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and did not testify.

But his attorney — Assistant Public Defender Matthew Connell — argued that his client didn't intend to cause serious physical injury, which is needed to support a conviction for first-degree assault, the Banner said.

'Mr. Brice is a grown man. He’s not a child. He knew what he was doing.'

Connell also called Schaefer and Crosby “old white men” who say “the most vile things” to women and see themselves as “religious martyrs," Catholic Review reported.

“Somebody snapped on them,” Connell argued, according to the Banner.

The attacker's attorney added that his client “didn’t mean to hurt them that bad" and “made a mistake," the Banner reported.

Crosby told Blaze News that video of Brice's beatdown of Crosby and Schaefer was shown in court and that one juror was "crying," while "others were looking away" from the violence onscreen.

Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Sudberry in her opening remarks called Brice's attack “brazen, callous, barbaric behavior," Catholic Review said. Sudberry noted throughout her closing argument that "you saw what you saw, and you heard what you heard," the Banner reported.

Sudberry added that "Mr. Brice is a grown man. He’s not a child. He knew what he was doing," the Banner said.

Hung jury on most serious charge for attack on Crosby

The jury deliberated for about two hours and convicted Brice on two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment for his attacks on Schaefer and Crosby, the Banner said.

However, jurors acquitted Brice on one count of first-degree assault against Schaefer, the paper said.

As for the first-degree assault charge against Brice for attacking Crosby — knocking him to the ground, punching him in his head, and kicking him in his face while he was on his back on the sidewalk — the Banner said the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Attorney Terrell Roberts — retained by the Thomas More Society to assist Crosby amid deliberations — told Blaze News that as things stand, Brice could walk away from all of this with nothing but probation.

Crosby told Blaze News that he's prayed for Brice and has 'forgiven him,' but he wants prosecutors to go for the first-degree assault conviction for the violence he carried out: 'We're waiting for Brice to go to jail.'

Brice's convictions for second-degree assault and reckless endangerment — both misdemeanors — in Maryland carry maximum jail sentences of 10 years and five years, respectively.

Roberts added to Blaze News that sentencing guidelines for second-degree assault and reckless endangerment don't include jail sentences, and the Banner reported that Brice has no previous criminal record. Roberts told Blaze News that while Brice's attack on Crosby was a "pretty egregious act," there's a "good chance" a judge may not sentence Brice to any jail time.

Which is why Roberts told Blaze News it's "so important" that Brice is found guilty of the first-degree assault charge against Crosby. It's a felony and a "serious offense," Roberts said, and means "intent to cause serious bodily injury," which could land Brice in jail for 25 years. Roberts also told Blaze News that the sentencing guideline for first-degree assault does call for a jail sentence.

Now what?

The Banner reported that it wasn't immediately clear whether prosecutors intend to retry the first-degree assault charge against Brice.

James Bentley, a spokesperson for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, told the paper that it's “reviewing the matter and will take whatever action we believe is warranted following that review and consultation with the victim.”

Roberts told Blaze News he believes there's sufficient evidence to find Brice guilty of first-degree assault and that he's pressing the prosecution to retry the charge and argue the case in court.

But so far there's been "no progress," Roberts said, adding to Blaze News that he was supposed to hear back from prosecutors on Feb. 21, but as of the late afternoon that date, he had not.

Brice is scheduled to be sentenced March 20 on his second-degree assault and reckless endangerment convictions, the Banner said.

Crosby told Blaze News that he's prayed for Brice and has "forgiven him" but wants prosecutors to go for the first-degree assault conviction for the violence he carried out: "We're waiting for Brice to go to jail."

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Disturbing video shows Amazon delivery driver running van over shrieking woman, dragging her, then fleeing scene



A disturbing video has surfaced of a delivery driver running over a woman with an Amazon van in Baltimore, Maryland. The video shows the delivery driver fleeing the scene of the alleged hit-and-run as the woman shrieks in agony.

According to police, the incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Amazon driver checks on the woman for about 25 seconds before going back into the van and driving away.

Police named Jerome Allan Young Jr. — a 26-year-old of Baltimore County — as the hit-and-run suspect and issued an arrest warrant against him.

Police said in a statement, "Officers learned that Young suspect struck a 29-year-old female pedestrian with an Amazon-branded work van."

Video from a Ring doorbell camera WBFF-TV obtained shows the moment the van rolls through an intersection while a green traffic light is on. However, a woman was in the crosswalk at the same time.

The van driver hit he woman, and she was dragged several feet before falling under the vehicle. The van driver then stops with the victim underneath the vehicle. The driver then pulls forward and runs over the woman a second time with the rear tires.

The woman is heard crying, shrieking in pain, and begging for help during the incident.

The driver then stops the van, exits the vehicle, and walks to the woman in the middle of the intersection.

The Amazon driver checks on the woman for about 25 seconds before going back into the van and driving away.

A driver behind the Amazon van pulled over, and that female motorist rushed to assist the woman.

The female driver is heard asking, "Are you OK?"

Emergency personnel arrived at the scene shortly after the incident.

A Baltimore Police Department spokesperson told WBFF the victim was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police added on Thursday afternoon that Young turned himself in at a Baltimore County Precinct and was taken into custody.

Young was transported to the Baltimore Central Booking Intake Facility, where he was charged with negligent and reckless driving. Police noted that "additional charges are pending."

Before Young turned himself in to authorities, Amazon spokesperson Austin Stowe released the following statement: "We were made aware of this terrible incident today. The driver in question has been suspended from delivering on our behalf, and we're working with his employer and law enforcement as they investigate."

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Armed 17-year-old carjacker rolls the dice, promptly meets his match when victim pulls his own gun and opens fire



An armed 17-year-old is in "grave condition" after police said he pulled a gun on a man sitting in his vehicle early Tuesday morning in the Baltimore neighborhood of Canton, WBAL-TV reported.

The would-be carjacking victim and the teen exchanged gunfire outside a car wash off South Haven Street, police told the station.

'I mean, it's always shocking, but it seems as though this is a consistent pattern with what's been happening lately with carjackings in the district. Carjackings are up.'

Police told WBAL the 31-year-old victim flagged down an officer around 2 a.m. on Boston Street saying he'd been shot. Police said investigators believe the victim was shot five minutes away on South Haven Street, where he was sitting in his car before the teen walked up to him armed with a gun, the station said.

Police said the victim grabbed his licensed handgun, and he and the teen exchanged gunfire, after which the teen was unresponsive, WBAL reported, adding that police haven't said whether the teen acted alone.

Medics took the man to a hospital for treatment, according to WBAL's news radio station.

Around 2:20 a.m., police were called to the South Haven Street location and discovered an unidentified male — later confirmed to be the 17-year-old — suffering from severe gunshot wounds, the news radio station said.

Emergency medical personnel were dispatched, and the teen was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the news radio station added.

Those with information about the incident can call police at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP, WBAL said.

"I mean, it's always shocking, but it seems as though this is a consistent pattern with what's been happening lately with carjackings in the district. Carjackings are up," Arch McKown — vice president of Baltimore Police Department Southwest District Community Relations Council, a liaison between his neighbors and police — told WBAL.

City police data shows carjackings have increased 1,000% since this time last year — from just one reported in the Southeastern District in 2023 to 11 in the same time span this year, WBAL said.

In August, a 16-year-old female driver was shot during an attempted carjacking, Baltimore police told WBAL. Police said the girl and two of her friends were seated in the parked car in the 5100 block of Levindale Road around 7:20 p.m. Aug. 3 when a masked assailant approached them, flashed a gun, and "demanded the occupants get out of the car," the station said. Police told WBAL that the girl immediately reversed the vehicle and was trying to drive away when the assailant shot into the car, striking the teen. Police said she was taken to a hospital, the station said.

 - YouTubeyoutu.be

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