Morning roundup: Pittsburgh police raid homeless encampment; bridge closes in Forward Township

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Aug. 9:

Pittsburgh police serve search warrants for encampment policy violations

Police said detectives seized quantities of crack cocaine and lorazepam pills believed to be intended for sale from two tents located on Grant Street between First Avenue and Fort Pitt Boulevard after executing search warrants on Wednesday.

Five individuals were arrested during the search. Davidt Brown and Daidra Lomax were arrested and charged with narcotics violations.

Tracy Smith was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and William Mazon and Lamar Williams were arrested via summons for possession of a controlled substance.

Police said each individual who was arrested provided police with a valid home address.

The encampment violated multiple policies in the Encampment Policy, police said, including evidence of selling of illegal drugs or paraphernalia, verified reports of violence or criminal activity, particularly involving threats to vulnerable individuals and health and safety concerns of the residents and persons in and around the encampment.

Police called the area surrounding the tents a public health and fire hazard. Piles of trash, crack pipes and needles, rotten food, human feces and urine bottles were strewn throughout, and several propane tanks were located around and inside tents.

Police said obvious health hazards, biohazards and trash will be removed from the area. Personal belongings will be stored per City of Pittsburgh policy.

Allegheny County bridge closure

A bridge in Allegheny County has been shut down because of the deterioration of several support beams, PennDOT announced Thursday.

The Ridge Road bridge over Perry Mill Run near Pangburn Hollow Road in Forward Township is closed to traffic. The bridge is closed between Pangburn Hollow Road and Lytle Road until further notice.

A recent inspection showed deterioration to several of the structure’s primary support beams.

The bridge will be closed until a replacement or repairs are completed, PennDOT said.

Large water line break under Fort Duquesne Bridge

After a large water line break, water began shooting out of the underside of Fort Duquesne bridge Thursday night.

According to Mora McLaughlin, spokesperson for Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, the water began to flow before 11 p.m. on the North Shore side of the bridge near the River Walk.

Members of the Water and Sewer Authority were on scene during the incident and shut the water main down a little before 2 a.m. McLaughlin said no one is out of water this morning since crews were able to isolate the leak.

“It was a leak,” she said. “It’s a 30-inch water main. I can’t really say right now what exactly caused it. We just know that it was leaking.”

She said there was some mulch displacement under the bridge from the spillage, but no detours or damages were caused by the leak. Crews will be out to repair the leak in the near future, but it is not deemed as an emergency situation because no one is being directly affected by the lack of water flow through the line.

McLaughlin said the bridge is still open for use.