Gallitzin man enters guilty plea for fleeing police

Katie Smolen, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·1 min read

May 31—EBENSBURG, Pa. — A Gallitzin man entered a guilty plea Tuesday to fleeing or attempt to elude police, driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance

Richard Allan Myers was accused of attempting to flee arrest earlier this year.

He was arrested in January by police after officers attempted to stop an ATV he was driving for a traffic violation at which time the vehicle fled, nearly colliding with a unit operated by Chief Gerald Hagen of the Gallitzin Borough Police Department, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Myers accelerated and refused to stop, while switching lanes and driving in the center of the roadway until he reached Chestnut Street, where he failed to stop at a stop sign, rode the center of the street, failing to stop at Main Street, crossed a store parking lot and back onto the roadway, according to the complaint.

Myers attempted to pass the cruiser and Hagen's unit. He then turned west onto Franklin Street and rode alongside the cruiser and struck the passenger side of the cruiser and fell off the ATV and onto the roadway, according to the complaint.

Officers began providing medical care to Myers and a pill bottle was visible from his pants pocket.

Myers later tested positive for methamphetamines, amphetamine and marijuana that were in his system at the time he operated the ATV on public roadways, according to the complaint.

Myers will be sentenced on July 18 at 11 a.m.