Suspect nabbed
Uniontown police and state police were able to capture a Uniontown man after a high-speed chase that ended early Friday in Wharton Township. According to Uniontown Patrolman Dennis Field, city police received notification from Fayette County 911 regarding a stolen vehicle in the area around 3:15 a.m. He said he and Officer Jennifer Field spotted the green Chevrolet Malibu on Coolspring Street a few minutes later. Police said the car had been stolen from a hotel just outside Uniontown Thursday night.
Field said that once officers baited the car to make a turn in front of the cruiser, they were able to identify the license plate as the vehicle they were looking for. Field said immediately after the car turned, the driver accelerated the vehicle to speeds exceeding 80 mph headed toward the Lemont Furnace area.
Field radioed for state police backup as the officers followed the careening vehicle onto Jumonville-Coolspring Road, where the high-speed pursuit continued despite wet roads and a steady drizzle, police said.
Field said the car passed several vehicles while climbing the road into the mountain and then headed east on Route 40 toward Chalk Hill.
At the bottom of Summit Mountain near the state Department of Transportation shed, the driver locked the car’s brakes and the vehicle spun 180 degrees. He then began to accelerate towards Field’s vehicle, Field said.
Narrowly missing the cruiser, the man then turned the sedan onto Elliottsville Road, where Patrolman Ray Miller and several state police troopers joined the pursuit, Field said.
The man then turned on to Quebec Road where he lost control of the vehicle, crashed off the road and became mired in mud, Field said.
Field and Miller then stormed the car, ordered the man from the vehicle and when he failed to comply, used police maneuvers as well as pepper spray to take the suspect into custody.
City police said they turned the case and charges against the man over to the state police.
No information on the chase was available from state police Friday. The man’s name is being withheld pending the formalization of charges.