Police deploy 'stop sticks' to end 8-mile pursuit in Westmoreland County

A 38-year-old Herminie man was jailed on multiple charges including DUI and fleeing police following an 8-mile chase that ended when he lost control of his van and drove off the highway in the Hempfield village of Darragh, according to court documents.

Christopher D. Troutman was taken into custody near the post office in Darragh when he lost control of his white 2013 Chevrolet van along Route 136 after state troopers deployed stop sticks in an attempt to end a pursuit that began about 8:15 p.m. Saturday along West Otterman Street at Gaither Way in Greensburg.

City Patrolman Brad Grabiak said the pursuit began when he noticed the van cross the centerline and completed a registration check that indicated the van’s owner, Troutman, was driving on a suspended license.

Grabiak said Troutman refused to pull over, driving on to West Newton and South Spring streets before making a right turn and driving the wrong way on Madison Avenue.

Troutman continued driving south along Cleveland Street and Hamilton Avenue, onto West Newton Road and eventually to Route 136. During the pursuit, Grabiak said Troutman failed to stop at numerous stop signs and ignored a steady red traffic signal.

“(Troutman’s) vehicle crossed over the center line three times into the oncoming lane of travel. Vehicles were pulling to the side of the road to avoid a collision,” Grabiak wrote in court documents.

When police took Troutman into custody “he smelled strongly of alcoholic beverages” and acknowledged he had been drinking.

“I observed beer cans all over the floor of the occupant compartment of his vehicle,” Grabiak wrote.

Troutman failed a breathalyzer test at the police station more than an hour after the pursuit began, indicating he was under the influence of alcohol, according to court documents.

He was arraigned Saturday on 20 criminal and traffic charges including driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, failing to yield to emergency vehicles, fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest, failing to stop at a red signal, reckless driving and reckless endangerment. He was ordered held in the county prison after failing to post $25,000 bond.

Troutman previously was fined and sentenced to one year of probation in 2021 for causing a crash in Sewickley Township in 2021, and was sentenced to six months of electronic monitoring after being convicted of a DUI in 2007, according to online court dockets.