Theodore Bair

An apparent dispute over a child Sunday morning in Buffalo Township led to the arrest of a Westmoreland County man who is accused of dragging the mother of his infant daughter outside his vehicle.

Buffalo Township police charged Theodore R. Bair, 36, of Irwin, who is facing felony assault and other charges. The victim suffered an abrasion on her right leg.

Police said they were called shortly before noon to the 300 block of Primrose Drive where several witnesses reported a woman being dragged along the side of a car traveling toward Ramble Drive.

While talking to the witnesses, police said they spotted the suspect return to the scene in his car. Bair was detained.

Officers also learned that the victim and her child were nearby in the Dollar General store on Route 356 in Buffalo Township, police said. She subsequently returned to her home on Primrose Drive to talk to police.

She identified the defendant as the father of their infant daughter and said he has no legal custody of the child, according to police. She said he was at her home Sunday when they got into an argument over which of them should have the child that day.

Bair had the infant in his car, police said, when he pulled away from of the victim's home. She recounted that she reached into the car to try and stop Bair, but he kept driving down the road.

At one point, according to charging documents, Bair “increased his speed and the victim was left holding onto the side until she eventually lost (her) grip and fell to the road.”

The suspect stopped, she told police, and she in turn got into the car. While in the moving vehicle she related that Bair continued to attempt to push her out. He eventually drove to the Dollar General where the woman got out with her child.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton arraigned Bair on felony charges of aggravated assault and interference with the custody of a child, and summary charges of harassment and disorderly conduct.

He was placed in the Butler County Prison on $10,000 bond following arraignment. Stoughton also ordered Bair to have no contact with the victim.