Q: What’s the status of the bodyguard Fox News hired who was charged with illegal weapon possession in Baltimore?
—Tom Cotton, Senoia
A: Donald F. Scott, a security guard working for Fox News during the Baltimore riots, received two years of unsupervised probation in July.
He had requested a jury trial after being arrested May 1 on two gun charges, but received “probation before judgment,” Maryland Judiciary spokeswoman Terri Charles told Q&A on the News in an email.
“A probation before judgment is a conditional avoidance of imposition of sentence after conviction, and failure to satisfy the terms and conditions may cause imposition of sentence after a finding of violation of probation,” she wrote.
Scott was arrested after a Baltimore police officer saw him pull a handgun from his waistband next to a vehicle, the Baltimore Sun reported. Officers found another handgun in a second holster.
Q: Why did the captain of the cargo ship that is missing choose to navigate that ship into a the path of a Category 4 hurricane?
—William McKee Jr., Flowery Branch
A: Tote Services President Phil Greene said Michael Davidson, the captain of the El Faro, had a plan to avoid Hurricane Joaquin, but the ship lost power and was disabled.
Tote Inc. owns the El Faro, a 41-year-old, 790-foot freighter that was sailing from Jacksonville, Fla., to Puerto Rico last week.
Authorities think the El Faro sank near the Bahamas. Search and rescue crews have found one body from the 33-member crew.
The El Faro, which had no history of engine failure, was scheduled to be replaced by a new ship, the Associated Press reported.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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