Police charged an Ellicott City man with attempted murder after he tried to run over two Howard County police officers Friday night.
Police said Anthony Howard, 50, was arrested in the 3100 block of Burgess Hill Way around 10:30 p.m. Friday. He was charged with charged attempted murder, assault and threatening in writing to burn down a structure.
According to authorities, Howard had recently moved out of the home, but showed up Friday night with a garage opener still in his possession. Residents called 911 because Howard had been sending threatening text messages to a family member, saying he was going to burn the house down.
When officers arrived they found Howard sitting in a running car in the parking lot of the townhouse in front of the garage. He ignored orders to exit the car and instead accelerated toward the officers who were outside of their vehicles. The officers fired, hitting the vehicle which stopped just short of hitting police.
Howard was arrested and police found a can of gasoline in the car.
Howard is being held at the Howard County Detention Center.
The officers, one a 15-year veteran and the other a 10-year veteran of the police department, have been placed on routine administrative leave.
