Oakmont, Verona chase suspect still at large after ditching gun, police say

A Penn Hills man who twice evaded police in Oakmont and Verona Tuesday remains at large.

Oakmont and Verona police filed separate charges against Damian Baverso, 18, and issued separate warrants for his arrest.

The chase in Oakmont began when officers tried to arrest Baverso near the Rite Aid on Allegheny River Boulevard, according to a criminal complaint filed by Oakmont police Chief Michael Ford.

The warrant was for failing to return to a detention facility stemming from a May 2020 firearm offense when Baverso was a minor, the complaint said.

Baverso fled when police attempted to arrest him, according to the complaint. He threw a 9 mm pistol into a flower bed near the intersection of Allegheny River Boulevard and Plum Street, police said. They recovered the gun and found the serial numbers removed, the complaint said.

The Oakmont chase centered around the College Avenue area and stretched from Allegheny River Boulevard to Sixth Street, with Verona and Allegheny Valley Regional police assisting. The search for Baverso lasted about an hour before it was called off just before 3 p.m., police said.

No one was injured during the incident.

Oakmont police charged Baverso with a felony count of possession of a firearm with an altered serial number and one misdemeanor count each of person not to possess firearms and evading arrest or detention on foot.

In a second criminal complaint, Verona police Officer Thomas Dessell said he encountered Baverso after responding to a report of a home burglary in progress just after 4 p.m. in the 500 block of East Railroad Avenue in Verona.

The owners of the home said a man tried to break in and identified the man as Baverso, the complaint said. Dessell encountered a fleeing suspect, wearing the same attire Baverso wore in the Oakmont incident, running down Diamond Way and called for backup to help with the search, according to the complaint.

A perimeter was set up with the help of officers from Oakmont, Verona and Penn Hills, but the search was unsuccessful, the complaint said.

Dessell said he was contacted later in his shift about a post on Baverso’s Instagram account which read “slow (expletive) cops couldn’t get me,” according to the complaint. The post was time-stamped 17 minutes after the Verona incident, the complaint said.

Verona police charged Baverso with criminal trespass, criminal attempt and flight to avoid apprehension, all felony charges.