Man falls while running from police
A man wanted by law enforcement fell about 40 feet off a balcony in Uniontown while attempting to elude police Monday. Uniontown police said the 21-year-old Uniontown man, whose identity was withheld pending formalization of charges, was wanted for a probation violation out of North Carolina.
The incident, according to police, began around 5:24 p.m., when officers received an anonymous call reporting drug activity in the area of Shady Lane.
Officer Frederick Kampert and Officer Jamie Holland responded to the area and located a man who matched the description given by the caller.
Holland said that police circled the block and then made contact with the man.
When police asked the man for identification, the man became nervous and asked why officers were there, Holland said.
After police explained the situation, the man began to step backwards before running into an apartment building at 12 Shady Lane.
Police said Kampert and Holland pursued the man on foot up a flight of stairs and saw him kick in the door to one of the apartments. The man then ran through the apartment to a back door that led onto a balcony.
Holland said that the man attempted to jump from the balcony onto a lower balcony but that he lost his grip and fell about 40 feet to the ground.
The man, according to Holland, suffered a broken leg as a result of the fall.
Police said Uniontown Fire Department and Uniontown Fireman’s Ambulance responded and transported the man from the wooded area behind the apartment building to Uniontown Hospital.
Holland said the man was to be flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital for a broken left femur bone but that bad weather conditions did not allow it.
A small bag of suspected heroin was found in the man’s shorts pocket, Holland said, noting that the evidence will be sent to a crime lab for analysis.
Police said the man faces possible charges of fleeing and eluding police, resisting arrest, possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.