Two Brookline residents face drug charges after attempting to flee from a Dormont police officer.
Sgt. Ralf Zawischa and Officer James Burke responded to the First Commonwealth Bank parking lot on Tennessee Avenue at 10 a.m. on Oct. 4 for a report that two men were sitting inside a car, possibly using drugs.
According to the police report, when Burke approached the car he saw that the driver—later identified as Daniel Espy, 28, of Brookline—had a syringe and was about to inject himself with a substance. Police said Espy pulled out of the lot and tried to drive away while Burke’s arm was still inside the car.
When police stopped the car, they found drug paraphernalia and several needles inside, according to the report.
Espy was charged with assault and drug violations. The passenger, Jason Orkwis, 29, of Brookline, also was charged with drug violations.
Also in the blotter:
Sept. 28
- Christie Shanahan, 56, of Mt. Lebanon was charged with driving under the influence after she was involved in a minor car accident in the 2900 block of West Liberty Avenue at 2:57 p.m. No injuries were reported as a result of the accident.
- A man came to the Dormont police station around 7 p.m. and reported that when he returned home from work, he noticed that two tires of a truck and one tire of a motorcycle in the 2900 block of Glenmore Avenue had been slashed. No arrests have been made at this time.
Sept. 29
- A backpack containing a laptop computer and personal items was stolen from a vehicle parked in the First Commonwealth Bank parking lot in the 1300 block of Tennessee Avenue around 1:45 a.m. Police are investigating the incident.
Sept. 30
- A man told police a work bag containing various hand tools and a pair of Oakley sunglasses was stolen from his vehicle between 7:30 and 9:15 p.m. Police are investigating the incident.
Oct. 2
- A resident in the 1400 block of Grandin Avenue reported that a 50-pound pineapple-shaped garden statue was stolen overnight from the front yard of the home.
This information was supplied by Dormont Police. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction.
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This is yet another example of concerned citizens working with determined officers. Anyone taking bets on how fast Zappala plea bargains this incident away? And you wonder why our police officers are frustrated?
The thing that bothers me most about those reports are not just the entries themselves, but the gaps in time between some of them. IMO, these are clearly two career petty criminals, and I can't help but think of all the other crimes that may have occurred in-between the various arrests we see in those documents. There is at least one firearms violation involved, and though a quick perusal of both docs didn't show much in the way of violence, the very fact that we're talking about property crimes stretching across least 2 decades (their entire adult lives, 10 and 11 years) shows individuals that have no respect whatsoever for those around them. No reasonable society would allow these "men" and others like them to spend their lives in predation of their neighbors, yet here we are.