CHICORA — The man who evaded police for nearly a week after allegedly shooting his girlfriend in Pittsburgh and making a high-speed getaway into Butler County appeared in court Tuesday for his first of two scheduled preliminary hearings this week.

Robert Amend, 49, of Pittsburgh sat quietly, at times sharing conversation with his father and brother, while waiting — handcuffed and shackled — for his case to be called at District Judge Lewis Stoughton’s courtroom in Chicora.

At the bench, he let his attorney, Marc Daffner of Pittsburgh, do the talking.

Daffner advised the judge that Amend was waiving his right to the hearing on felony and other charges stemming from his getaway earlier this month.

The defendant is accused in the Aug. 8 shooting of his 40-year-old estranged girlfriend, who had recently taken out a protection-from-abuse order against him.

The defendant allegedly shot the woman in the leg and side at her apartment about 9 a.m. before he fled in his Hyundai sedan. Authorities said the victim was treated for nonlife threatening injuries.

Soon after the shooting, a be-on-the-lookout bulletin was sent out to law enforcement agencies.

Trooper Ryan Hand was on patrol on Route 68 in Chicora when he spotted Amend’s car traveling west. Hand made a U-turn, activated his emergency lights and siren and gave chase.

While speeding away, according to charging documents, the suspect passed two vehicles on the right berm as he headed out of the borough.

Troopers in two other cruisers soon joined the pursuit “at speeds in excess of 100 mph,” the criminal complaint said.

During the chase, Amend drove in and out of traffic in both directions.

Police radioed ahead to another trooper at the Oakland Township Elementary School, where a spike strip was deployed in the westbound lane.

Amend crossed over the opposing lane in a bid to avoid the tire-deflating device. But his right rear tire struck the strip.

Moments later Amend turned into a driveway and went down an embankment into the middle of the Woodbine Oaks mobile home park in Oakland Township, police said.

He got out of the car and fled into woods north of the trailer park.

An intensive nine-hour manhunt followed but the suspect avoided capture. He remained on the loose for five more days despite numerous reported sightings — from the Chicora area to Karns City to Butler.

On Aug. 13, Amend managed to call his brother in Pittsburgh. The brother, in turn, reached out to Daffner.

The attorney, following Tuesday’s court proceeding, recounted how he came to represent Amend.

“I told his brother that (Amend) needs to turn himself in — that’s better than running,” Daffner said.

“Our concern was getting him to turn himself in without causing a tactical response by the authorities.”

Daffner did not know the suspect or his family before that day.

“I think I represented a friend of the brother once,” the attorney said. “I guess that’s how he came to call me.”

Eventually, Amend decided to surrender Aug. 14. Accompanied by Daffner, the defendant turned himself in at the Pittsburgh Municipal Courts Building in downtown Pittsburgh shortly before noon.

“When I first met him, Daffner said of his client, “he was flustered and he told me he was suffering some kind of disability with his legs.”

Daffner declined to comment on any other discussions he had with Amend, including what, if anything, he knows about how the defendant managed to elude police and how he got from Butler County to Pittsburgh before surrendering.

“All I can say,” Daffner said, “is that he’s upset about the circumstance of the case.”

State police in Butler have also refused comment about the failed manhunt and referred all questions to Pittsburgh police.

However, Pittsburgh police spokesman Sonya Toler was equally tight-lipped.

“I’m not going to talk about any aspect of the investigation,” she told the Butler Eagle last week.

In his Butler County case, Amend is charged with fleeing or attempting to elude police, a felony, and reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. He also faces a list of traffic violations.

But in opting to forgo his hearing Tuesday, the defendant chose not to have evidence presented in court before his trial.

Usually at a preliminary hearing, the district judge hears evidence from prosecutors as well as police, and rules on whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

Daffner vowed to have a full hearing on Thursday when Amend is to appear in Pittsburgh court on attempted homicide and other charges stemming from the shooting.

He remains in the Allegheny County Jail on $250,000 bail.