18 months for Baltimore officer

A Baltimore police officer will spend a year and a half in jail for firing his department-issued handgun at two men who were driving away from him after a bar fight.

Patrick Dotson received a 10-year sentence Thursday, with all but 18 months suspended. He pleaded guilty in July to two counts of first-degree assault.

The shooting happened in March of last year. Prosecutors say Dotson fought with a man outside a bar in Baltimore’s Canton neighborhood. As the man and a friend drove away from the scene, Dotson fired his weapon at their car, and a bullet struck a rear panel near the gas tank.

The 28-year-old Dotson has been suspended since the shooting, and now that he’s been sentenced, the department will begin the process of firing him.

-- The Associated Press