Arnold woman tried to take Lower Burrell officer's gun during arrest, police say

Lower Burrell police said an Arnold woman who wrecked her car at Burrell Lake Park on Saturday tried to take an officer’s gun and Taser, and hit, kicked and spit on officers as they arrested her.

Michelle Pusateri, 37, also faces charges of child endangerment because police said she was driving under the influence with her 4-year-old son in the car.

Police said Pusateri fought them at the scene of the crash, in the police car, again when they reached the police station and after she was placed in a holding cell.

In addition to child endangerment, Lower Burrell police charged Pusateri with disarming a police officer, resisting arrest, arson, aggravated assault and other offenses.

Police said they responded to a one-vehicle crash around 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Delberta and Watters roads at Burrell Lake Park.

Pusateri was walking outside the vehicle when responding officers arrived. Pusateri’s son said he wasn’t injured, but police said they called an ambulance to take the child to a local hospital so he could be examined.

Police said they suspected Pusateri was driving under the influence after they conducted a field sobriety check.

When police tried to handcuff her, they said she resisted and pulled away to say goodbye to her son. Police said she became belligerent and began calling people obscenities.

As police pulled her away, they said she tried to grab an officer’s gun. When told to stop, she refused and police took her to the ground. Pusateri continued to resist arrest, kicking two police officers, including an Upper Burrell officer who was assisting, police said in court documents.

They carried Pusateri to the police car, where she continued kicking and refused to step inside the car. Once police got her in, she began hitting the partition.

Police said when they opened one of the back doors to try to calm Pusateri, she punched one of the officers in the face, kicked both of them and attempted to bite them.

One of the police officers took out his Taser and told Pusateri to stop resisting arrest or she would be tased. Police said Pusateri kicked the Taser out of the officer’s hand and, when it fell to the car floor, she put her foot on it and began kicking it.

Police subdued her, but not before they broke her grasp on one of the officer’s batons.

En route to the Lower Burrell station, police said Pusateri began kicking the partition and striking her head against it and tried to kick out one of the side windows. When the police car went past a Lower Burrell fire station along Leechburg Road, police said Pusateri yelled, “Have you ever seen a police car light on fire?”

Police said they saw Pusateri waving a lit lighter back and forth. They slammed on the brakes, hoping to knock the lighter out of her hand.

Police stopped the car and went into the back seat looking for lighter, threatening to use the Taser. Pusateri started to cry, they said.

Upon arrival at the station, police said Pusateri complied with officers at first, but then threw herself against a wall and again began resisting arrest, trying to punch and kick police. Leg shackles were applied. Two lighters were removed from her hoodie.

Once Pusateri was in the holding cell, she damaged a clipboard and urinated on the floor, police said.

She was taken to Westmoreland County Prison after failing to post $100,000 bail. Pusateri’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday before District Judge Charles M. Christner in Rostraver.