An Erie man was sentenced Thursday, April 25, to serve nine to 18 months in the Butler County Prison and pay $500 in restitution for threatening and spitting on state troopers last year after he was arrested as a passenger in a stolen vehicle.

Jeffrey T. Hill, 29, was sentenced after pleading guilty to misdemeanor simple assault and terroristic threat charges police filed after the Nov. 1 incident in Muddy Creek Township.

The driver of the vehicle, Dashawn Zigler, 20, also of Erie, was sentenced in March to serve nine to 18 months in prison and pay $500 in restitution after pleading guilty to a felony charge of fleeing to elude police and a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle.

Both defendants were ordered to pay the restitution to the vehicle owner James Pfaff, of Erie.

Before Judge Timothy McCune sentenced Hill, Pfaff said the value of his Chevrolet Trailblazer depreciated by $5,000 due to the theft and mileage the defendants put on it. He said the defendants should have to compensate him for the loss in value. He also said his insurance rate increased due to the $8,830 in damage the defendants caused to the vehicle, which was stolen while it was warming up in his driveway.

Defense attorney Armand Cingolani III said people don’t realize the consequences of their actions can reverberate for a long time.

Hill was sentenced to consecutively serve nine to 18 months on both charges.

Police said officers chased Zigler and Hill south on Interstate 79 as the vehicle drove in between two lanes, on the berm and sped through a posted construction zone at 110 mph.

After the vehicle stopped in the township, Zigler fled on foot, but was later apprehended.

Police said Hill attempted to spit on a trooper and stated to another that “when these cuffs are off, there will be bloodshed.”