Hagerstown man takes plea partway through shooting trial involving man who jumped on hood

A Hagerstown man took a plea deal Thursday after a jury heard testimony from a Hagerstown Police officer and watched body-camera footage of the man fleeing from the officer and admitting he fired shots.

The case involves an altercation on July 24 last year that led to the shots and the victim jumping on the hood of a car Roberts was driving, with Roberts' family in the car.

Washington County Circuit Court Judge Joseph S. Michael sentenced Kareem Abdul Roberts, 32, to five years in state prison for illegally possessing a regulated firearm. Michael suspended a consecutive five-year sentence for recklessly discharging a firearm from a car. Roberts has 311 days credit for time served.

More Hagerstown crime: Hagerstown Police investigating shooting that left two wounded

During sentencing, Roberts apologized to the court, the community and his family. He said he wasn't taking his psychiatric medication at the time of the July 24 incident and there was medicine he couldn't take at the time because of recent heart surgery. He had been stabbed in the heart in a previous incident.

Michael made note about how Roberts was off his psychiatric medication, had a gun when he wasn't supposed to due to a previous conviction, had his family in the car, and has a short fuse and is excitable.

"It's not an accident waiting to happen. It's a homicide waiting to happen," Michael said.

When released from prison, Roberts will be on three years probation with the first two supervised.

Michael ordered Roberts to take his psychiatric medicine and other meds as prescribed, to refrain from taking illegal drugs or prescriptions, and to get a mental-health evaluation and treatment as directed. The gun was forfeited to Hagerstown Police and Roberts is not to have any weapons, the judge said.

Andrea Cheeatow, a private defense attorney representing Roberts on behalf of the public defender’s office, told the court Roberts also was facing about 20 years related to a Frederick County, Md., case.

Referring to prior convictions in New York; Montgomery County, Md., and Frederick County, Michael asked Roberts what brought him to Washington County.

Roberts said he was at a local halfway house and now he has family in the community.

Michael said it was lucky no one was shot, including bystanders who could have been on their way to church that Sunday.

Other charges dropped as part of the plea deal include first-degree assault, for which Roberts faced up to 25 years in prison.

Maryland jury watches police body cam footage

Roberts agreed to the plea deal following a lunch break in his jury trial. The jury heard testimony from Hagerstown Police Officer Timothy Cramer and watched Cramer’s body-camera footage when the officer found Roberts near Stratford Avenue in the city's West End after the earlier incident with the car and the gunfire. Police previously referred to Roberts being captured near Stafford Avenue.

In the video, Roberts is seen fleeing from Cramer and caught shortly later. After being seated in the back of a patrol car and read his Miranda rights, Roberts continues talking with Cramer and, at times, others including the mother of his child. At this point, Cramer had already spotted a firearm on the floorboard of the white car.

When Cramer asks Roberts if he shot at the man in self defense and how many times he shot at the man, Roberts said, “Not that many times.” Then there is mention of two shots.

Later in the video Roberts talks to his child’s mother, who is pregnant and standing outside the car. He tells her that he loves her, but he’s going away for a long time and he’s sorry she’ll be alone to raise the children.

During the sentencing part of the hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Chris McCormack said he had a bit of history with Roberts, who has a prior criminal record. McCormack described Roberts “as a little bit of a hothead” who lacks impulse control and has anger management issues.

Cheeatow said her client is “excitable,” but gets calmer when his nerves prevail after walking through things.

She said the incident on July 24 last year with the man who jumped on the car hood happened about three weeks after Roberts was stabbed and had open heart surgery. Cheeatow said Roberts, who wasn’t on his medication at the time, let his “temper, nerves and anxiety to get the best of him.”

Addressing the judge, Roberts said he made “some very poor choices” and that instead of rebuilding his life after the heart surgery he was “the shell of the person I was supposed to be.”

He said he was starting to become addicted to oxycodone from a hospital visit and wasn’t taking his psychiatric medicine at the time of the July 24 incident.

“I don’t like to make excuses for my my actions, but I have significant mental health issues,” Roberts said.

“It’s not easy for me. I have wild thoughts and can’t process information in a way that’s responsible,” he said.

“I just apologize. I’m tired of being arrested” and tired of being at judges’ mercy, he said. He said he wants to be a responsible person for his children.

After sentencing, Michael commended Cramer for doing a good job de-escalating matters, as seen in the body-cam footage. In addition to an excited and fleeing Roberts, his child's mother was screaming and crying — appearing to still be upset from the earlier incident when she was in the car with the baby and Roberts as well as officers arriving in the neighborhood and the pursuit of Roberts.

Car going wrong way and guy jumping on car hood

Before sentencing Roberts, Michael heard details about the incidents from police and the attorneys.

Police responded shortly before 10 a.m. on July 24 after a man going to church heard what he believed was two gunshots and walked out to Bethel Street to see a white car turn into an alley with a man on the car hood, McCormack said. The man came off the hood and took off.

Officers responded to the scene while others checked city surveillance camera footage.

Choo, choo: N&W 611 steam engine passes through Chambersburg, Greencastle, Hagerstown

Roberts and Nathaniel Hynson, the man on the hood, earlier had words in the area.

Shortly later, Roberts is driving the white car the wrong way up Bethel Street and police believe he was looking for Hynson, an officer told the judge.

In surveillance footage, Hynson walks into the street and a puff of smoke can be seen as something hits the street, which officers believe was a bullet, according to police and charging documents. It appeared a firearm was discharged from inside the car and a spent casing was later found.

After the gunfire, Hynson jumps on the car hood.

Hynson was later found in the 200 block of Jonathan Street with an injured pinky from holding onto the car, court records state.

Cheeatow said Hynson had a knife, something Roberts referred to in the body cam footage when talking to Cramer.

What happened with the guy who jumped on the hood?

Hynson, 40, of Hagerstown, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree assault for biting a police officer's thumb while the officer tried to put a required face mask on him, according to police and court records.

Hynson was sentenced in Washington County District Court to three years in jail with half of that suspended, according to court records. He had 186 days credit for time served. Upon his release, Hynson will be on probation for three years. A $1,000 fine was suspended. Other charges, including disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, were dismissed.

McCormack said Hynson wasn't going to be called as a witness to Roberts' trial because he returned his subpoena and, in a colorful way, wrote to leave him alone.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland man takes plea deal after jury sees police body cam footage