Butler man arrested in car theft
A Butler man was arrested Friday after allegedly attempting to carjack two people, illegally board a school bus carrying a kindergarten student and stealing a vehicle from the parking lot of a doctor's office.
Butler police say Brian Vlassich, 37, will face two counts of criminal attempted robbery of a motor vehicle, felony theft of a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property, and a charge related to his alleged attempt to board the school bus around 12:30 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Liberty and West Wayne streets.
Police Capt. James Hollobaugh said Vlassich's attempt to board the bus came just moments after he attempted to pull a woman, who was waiting to pick up her daughter, out of a vehicle near the bus stop.
Hollobaugh said the woman was able to fend off Vlassich's attempt, and he then approached the bus and attempted to push open the vehicle's doors.
Hollobaugh said the woman Vlassich had just attempted to carjack reacted to his attempt to board the bus by getting out of her vehicle, shoving Vlassich away from the bus' door and getting her daughter off the bus.
Butler School District superintendent Bryan White said Friday that the district had a bus “in the area” at the time of the incident, and said that after speaking with the parent whose daughter was on the bus, it was clear that “the individual did approach the bus in some manner.”
But, White said, the man never boarded the bus, and the district was working to gather more information about the incident.
After attempting to board the bus, Hollobaugh said, Vlassich took off running. A short time later he reportedly attempted to carjack a man several blocks away, on West Diamond Street.
After that failed attempt, Hollobaugh said, Vlassich stole a black 2015 Ford Explorer from the parking lot of a doctor's office at the corner of Washington and Diamond Streets.
Police said all of the attempted carjackings and theft of the parked vehicle occurred within a span of about 15 minutes early Friday afternoon.
Butler police issued a be-on-the-lookout advisory for a then-unknown suspect at about 12:45 p.m. Friday. At 4:21 p.m. police received an anonymous tip that a man matching the carjacker's description was in a vehicle which was stuck in a retention pond off an unfinished road near the Route 356/422 interchange in Butler Township, near a PennDOT storage site.
When police arrived Vlassich was nowhere to be found, Hollobaugh said. But officers quickly learned that he had been picked up by an ambulance and taken to Butler Memorial Hospital.
That's where police found Vlassich at about 4:40 p.m., Hollobaugh said. He “confessed to everything” — though he did not give a reason for the alleged crime spree.
As of 7 p.m. Friday, police were still questioning Vlassich at the department's headquarters and it was unclear when he would go before a district judge for a preliminary arraignment.
White said that district would continue its own investigation into Vlassich's reported attempt to board the bus, and would also review its policies and procedures to see if any changes need to be made.
Effective immediately, he said, the district was instructing its bus drivers to “immediately proceed back to school or another safe location if an incident that does not seem safe occurs along a bus route or at a bus stop.”
Once safe, White said in a letter to parents, drivers should contact police and the district and await further instructions.He said the district would await and follow “any recommendations the police provide regarding keeping our students safe.”“Really for us it's also a point of just 'what can we learn from it?',” said White. “If this is the kind of behavior we're going to encounter, do we have to provide additional training to our drivers?”In a letter sent Friday night to parents White called the incident “disturbing,” and commended the parent involved for taking action to keep Vlassich from boarding the bus.“Our understanding is that (the safety and security of everyone involved) is largely due to the quick actions of a parent at the bus stop,” White's letter reads, in part. “We are extremely grateful.”He said the district has asked its transportation department to pull video and audio recordings taken from inside the bus at the time of the incident. While the recordings won't show the vehicle's door directly, White said, they could contain audio components that help the district and police determine what exactly occurred.Hollobaugh, asked whether Friday's spree of attempted carjackings was out of the ordinary, said that the crime is an unusual one in the city.“We don't have a lot of carjackings — we don't even have a lot of attempts,” he said.According to online court records Vlassich has an extensive criminal record.His latest arrest came in May 2017, in a bizarre incident in which Vlassich himself called police, claimed to be fighting with his brother, and told a 911 dispatcher to tell officers to “bring lots of cannons.”In that case Vlassich, whom police say resisted arrest despite being tasered multiple times, is facing charges of public drunkenness, criminal mischief and resisting arrest.In other cases, which date back as far as 2000, Vlassich has been charged with, among other things, aggravated assault, DUI, vandalism, false reports, possession of drug paraphernalia, theft and conspiracy, retaliation against a witness or victim, and various summary counts of vehicle-related charges.
