A Daugherty Township man crashed his car late Tuesday then stole a responding firefighter's pickup truck before fighting with police at a Beaver Falls bar, authorities reported.
Shaun Reilly, 42, is charged with theft, drunken driving, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance, reckless driving and failing to notify police of an accident.
New Brighton Area Police Chief Ron Walton said Wednesday that callers reported Reilly's vehicle had gone over a hillside on Marion Hill Road near the Daugherty fire station at about 10:20 p.m.
The callers and a volunteer firefighter stopped to help, and while the unidentified firefighter used his pickup's headlights to illuminate the crash scene, Reilly climbed up the hillside and into the truck and took off, Walton said.
Other firefighters said they saw Reilly drive past in their colleague's pickup, and the search was on.
About five to 10 minutes later, Beaver Falls police found the truck parked near Michael's bar in the city. Walton said officers went inside and found "a pretty injured and bloodied" Reilly. Reilly began fighting with officers, who used a stun gun to subdue him, the chief said.
Reilly was taken to Heritage Valley Beaver hospital in Brighton Township and then to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, where he remained Wednesday, Walton said.
Police also found what appeared to be cocaine on Reilly, said Walton.
"It was a pretty bloody scene in the truck and in the bar," said Walton, who described the Beaver Falls and New Brighton officers who arrested Reilly as "covered in blood from head to toe."
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