A police pursuit of a stolen vehicle two weeks ago began on McKnight Road in Ross and ended in Downtown Pittsburgh, where the driver threw a woman out onto the road, according to court filings.<\/p>\n
Ross police on July 28 charged the driver, Aaron Joseph Morris, 21, of Pittsburgh\u2019s Perry South neighborhood. He was arraigned July 31, denied bail and was being held in the Allegheny County Jail, according to court records.<\/p>\n
According to a criminal complaint, Ross police were alerted around 11:15 p.m. July 19 that a Honda CR-V stolen that morning from Millvale had crossed Ross Park Mall Drive on northbound McKnight Road.<\/p>\n
Police found the SUV parked at a GetGo on McKnight Road. When officers tried to surround it, Morris drove over a hillside and fled south on McKnight, the complaint states.<\/p>\n
Throughout the ensuing chase, police said Morris ran stop signs and red lights, and was swerving and making erratic movements without reason, leading police to believe he was likely impaired and a danger to the public, the complaint states.<\/p>\n
Police used spike strips to try to stop the vehicle at Siebert Road, but Morris avoided them, turning onto Siebert and then Babcock Boulevard.<\/p>\n
An officer continued to pursue Morris into West View and then toward Bellevue, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
As the vehicle got onto Ohio River Boulevard, police said, speeds increased to around 80 mph. Morris continued to accelerate heading south past the McKees Rocks Bridge, causing the Ross officer to end the pursuit.<\/p>\n
But shortly after, Morris hit a guardrail and the vehicle appeared to be significantly damaged, leading the officer to reengage on the belief that it would soon be disabled and Morris could be arrested, the complaint states.<\/p>\n
After crossing the West End Bridge, the vehicle blew a rear tire on the driver\u2019s side, but Morris continued driving on the bare rim, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
Police said Morris swerved into the oncoming traffic lane on Route 51, where traffic was very light late at night, before making a U-turn and heading back toward Downtown through the Liberty Tunnel and across Liberty Bridge, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
Morris continued toward I-579 north before abruptly turning into Downtown. The pursuing officer briefly lost sight of the SUV as it turned onto Liberty Avenue near Ninth Street, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
As the officer came around the corner on Liberty at Ninth, he reported seeing a woman on the ground in the road. As Morris turned onto Ninth Street, the officer lost sight of the SUV and he stopped to help the woman, believing she was a pedestrian hit by the vehicle.<\/p>\n
The woman told police she had been a passenger in the vehicle. She told police that during the pursuit, Morris ignored her pleas to stop and let her out, but that he threw her out of the vehicle Downtown.<\/p>\n
The woman was taken to Allegheny General Hospital for treatment of her injuries, the severity of which was not disclosed.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh officers found the wrecked SUV parked unattended near the 16th Street Bridge\/Chestnut Street exit, the complaint states.<\/p>\n
Police said Morris is not a licensed driver and his operating privilege is suspended. He was wanted on four outstanding warrants for charges including fleeing and eluding, reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person.<\/p>\n
The circumstances of Morris\u2019 arrest were not included in the complaint.<\/p>\n
Morris did not have an attorney listed in court records.<\/p>\n
Ross police charged Morris with felony counts of receiving stolen property and flight to avoid apprehension; misdemeanor counts of unlawful restraint, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and fleeing or attempting to elude police; and 11 summary traffic offenses.<\/p>\n
Morris is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before District Judge Richard G. Opiela on Aug. 12, according to court records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A police pursuit of a stolen vehicle two weeks ago began on McKnight Road in Ross and ended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-257924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}