Local man who fled from police arrested
CARMICHAELS – A Dilliner man accused of stealing a tailgate and fleeing state police after a high-speed chase into Fayette County July 13 was apprehended and arrested on numerous charges Wednesday night. Earl Eugene Landman, 27, of the Riviera Mobile Home Park in Dilliner, was arrested by state police Wednesday at the mobile home park and was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Lee Watson.
Following arraignment, Landman was placed in Greene County Jail after failing to post $100,000 straight bail.
His preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 26 at 11 a.m.
According to the criminal complaint, Landman faces a felony charge of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer; misdemeanor charges of theft by unlawful taking, criminal conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person; and summary offenses of driving while his operating privilege was suspended, driving at an unsafe speed, exceeding the posted speed limit, careless driving, reckless driving and driving without a seat belt, in addition to several other violations.
The charges stem from a theft and high-speed chase that took place between 6 p.m. and 7:03 p.m. Friday, July 13.
On July 13, state police in Waynesburg received two phone calls from motorists reporting that a man and a woman had just removed a tailgate from Solomon Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge in Cumberland Township and placed it in the back seat of a dark blue Pontiac Sunbird, the complaint states.
The car traveled northbound on Route 88 with the man and woman holding a rear door open because the tailgate was sticking out.
The vehicle then turned onto Maple Street in Carmichaels, police said.
The car’s temporary registration led state police to another resident of the mobile home park. While en route to the park, Trooper John Pash of the Waynesburg State Police barracks spotted a dark blue Pontiac Sunbird with a temporary tag in its window approximately 1.5 miles south of Route 21, the complaint states.
Pash turned around and followed the vehicle, which was weaving and crossed the double yellow lines four times, the complaint states.
The vehicle turned right onto Route 21 without using a turn signal, at which point Pash activated his emergency lights and the Sunbird accelerated.
Pash activated his siren and pursued the Sunbird eastbound on Route 21, with the Sunbird passing another vehicle without signaling, police said.
The Sunbird then traveled across the Masontown bridge at 100 mph, passing another vehicle on the bridge without signaling, the complaint states.
After crossing the bridge, the Sunbird traveled onto several Fayette County roads, turning without signaling.
The vehicle eventually turned off the roadway and onto railroad tracks, traveling about 1,500 feet before blowing a front tire and becoming disabled, police said.
The driver, later identified as Landman, then ran into the woods, and the two passengers in Landman’s vehicle, Teddy Allen Leppard and Cassie Lee Gardner, were apprehended by Pash, the complaint states.
Leppard and Gardner told state police in Waynesburg that Landman planned the tailgate theft and sold the tailgate for money and prescription drugs, the complaint states.
Solomon Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge reported to state police that a red tailgate, valued at $500, was missing from a 2006 Dodge Ram truck.