Dec 11, 2002 By Jennifer Harr 3 min read

More then seven years after he was charged with slamming a window down on a Uniontown police officer, John Smith was acquitted of assault in Fayette County Court. Smith, who thrice went on the lam after being released on bond, was convicted of resisting arrest. Uniontown police detective Phillip W. Jones testified that he and former city police officer David Sisler tried to stop Smith in August 1995, when they saw him driving a vehicle near Dunlap Street.

Jones said both officers knew there was an arrest warrant for 31-year-old Smith.

When police activated their lights, Smith, of 70 Pershing Court, Uniontown, turned his car around in the middle of the street and fled, testified Jones. A short distance away, Jones said Smith jumped out of the car and ran from police.

The foot chase took Jones into Pershing Court, he said, where Smith ran into the front door of one apartment building and out the back door. Then, said Jones, Smith jumped through a waist- high screened window in another apartment.

Jones said he checked the interior of the home and decided to follow Smith in through the window. However, when Jones started to come through the window, he said Smith reached from the side and slammed the window down on him, shattering glass and knocking the window off track.

Jones suffered a partially torn right bicep and cuts on his hands from shattered glass. Jones testified he was able to stop Smith from running out the back door of the apartment when he tackled him and the two fell through the door.

Unable to handcuff Smith because of his arm, Jones testified he held him down while waiting for Sisler to arrive on scene.

Noting that the officers heard shots during the pursuit, Jones testified Sisler handcuffed Smith and they took him to the Uniontown station. An objection from public defender Jeffrey Whiteko stopped Jones from going into more detail about where the shots came from.

Smith, for his part, took the stand and denied the charges. He said that Sisler, not Jones, stopped him at the back door of the apartment.

According to court records, Smith was arrested Aug. 11, 1995. In June, 1996, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest because he did not appear for criminal court. That warrant was lifted when Smith was apprehended in July 1998.

Another bench warrant for issued in August 1998 for failure to appear. Smith was again caught, and posted a second bond in July 2000.

In April 2001, a third bench warrant was issued when Smith again did not appear in court. That bench warrant was lifted this August, and Smith remains incarcerated in Fayette County Prison.

Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi, who presided over the case, will sentence Smith at a later date.