Cranberry policeDME

Matthew Brown

Cranberry Township Police Department took the driver of a U-Haul vehicle into custody on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 14, after a police chase began at the Butler Tobacco & Grocery store on Pillow Street in Butler and wound its way through several municipalities.

According to media outlets, including WPXI, a 53-year-old Pittsburgh man faces “several charges,” including kidnapping, aggravated assault, strangulation and terroristic threats. Those reports claim the man in custody is being held at Butler County prison on a $250,000 bond, but the Butler Eagle was unable to independently verify the man’s name or bond information with Butler City Police after several attempts to contact the department.

Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy said late Sunday afternoon the police department planned to release more details Monday, but officers on duty were unable to comment at the time.

Cranberry Township police chief Kenneth Ruckel told the Butler Eagle the pursuit came through their jurisdiction at about 2:40 p.m. Saturday.

“A Cranberry Police officer utilized stop sticks to disable the suspect vehicle around Peters Road,” Ruckel said. “The suspect vehicle came to a stop a short distance later and the operator detained near Myoma Road.”

No known injuries were reported to Cranberry Township Police, according to Ruckel.

According to a time stamp on a section of security camera footage that surfaced on social media, the incident occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Lisa Albert, who owns the tobacco store, was not present at the scene when the incident took place, but relayed information from her employee who was there. Albert declined to identify the employee.

According to Albert, her employee first noticed something was wrong when a woman jumped out of the U-Haul at a nearby traffic light and came running into the store.

“The woman jumped out, and she ran across the snow pile and into my store to get help,” Albert said. “When she ran into the store, she was screaming that he had kidnapped her, beat her, stole the U-Haul, and she didn’t know how he had gotten into her building.”

According to Albert, the woman told the employee that she was in the process of moving out of her apartment when the altercation began.

“This woman was all bloodied,” Albert said. “You could tell her hair had been pulled, her shirt was stretched and ripped.”

Albert said the woman reported the man had tried to cut her through her pants with a pair of scissors.

Security footage from the tobacco store shows a balding man in a yellow shirt entering the building while shouting and pointing, before another woman chases him out of the establishment. According to Albert, the woman chasing him out of the building is the store employee.

“My girl came out from behind the counter, screaming and yelling at him that he needed to leave,” Albert said.

Albert said a customer also assisted in defusing the situation by helping the employee lock the U-Haul driver out of the building.

“He saw the girl jump out from the light … so he had pulled over, got out of his car, ran into the store to see if we were OK,” Albert said. “So he had also helped get the guy out, and they got the door locked and they both called 911 — 911 told them to keep the door locked until the police got here.”

According to Albert, the police chase involving the U-Haul began shortly thereafter.

“He was out there screaming and hollering as well … and after he was done hollering outside, he jumped back in the U-Haul and took off,” Albert said. “We didn't know where he went until we found out later that they ended up on a chase and it ended in Cranberry.”

During the altercation, the female who allegedly fled the U-Haul was kept safely in a storage room in the back of the store, according to Albert.

“Police took her to get medical attention,” Albert said.