Jurors deliberate in aggravated assault case
After a day of deliberations on Wednesday, jurors contemplating whether a Uniontown man pointed a gun at city police officers and caused a 45-minute standoff were sent home to resume talks this morning. Gary Tracy, 53, testified he walked to the front door of his home with a shotgun at his side because he was afraid of a police officer outside his home investigating a car crash. However, police testified that Tracy was angry at police and pointed a gun at them after repeatedly being asked to go back inside his home.
Uniontown police responded to Tracy’s 142 Coolspring St. home when an elderly woman wrecked her vehicle into his porch. As police talked to the woman and medical personnel examined her, Tracy came outside on his own on several occasions, according to police.
During those times, officer Jonathan Grabiak testified, he asked Tracy to go back inside until police were done. Tracy, however, testified that Grabiak yelled at him, making him feel “like I was a little child or a dog.”
Then, Tracy claimed, Grabiak started kicking and pounding on his front door. Tracy testified that when he went to the door with a gun at his side, he was fearful that Grabiak was going to “kill me in my own home.”
Grabiak testified that he never kicked the door, but did ask Tracy to go back inside on three occasions. When Tracy came outside, he acted oddly, asking for the FBI and CIA, and at one point, requesting a helicopter, Grabiak said.
Grabiak testified that he saw Tracy with a gun at the doorway of his home, and the gun was pointed at police. Tracy went back into his home, Grabiak testified, and a 45-minute standoff with police ensued.
Tracy eventually came out of his home after his brother and brother-in-law talked to him on the phone.
He is charged with five counts each of aggravated and simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and terroristic threats. Those charges related to Grabiak, officer Michael Garrow Sr., two medics and the woman who wrecked her car into Tracy’s yard.