Saint Clair police Chief Michael P. Carey has not returned to work since Aug. 26, 2013, and he relived the story of his injury Monday while testifying at the trial of the Shenandoah motorist he says caused it.
"I could see the vehicle rocking back and forth. He struck the front of my patrol car," Carey said of John A. Pino, 70.
Pino conferred frequently with his lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Kent D. Watkins, while watching prosecutors lay out their case against him over the incidents of the day they say Carey suffered his injuries.
Watkins is scheduled to begin presenting his client's case when the trial resumes at 9 a.m. today before a jury and President Judge William E. Baldwin.
Pino is charged with retail theft in one case and eight counts of simple assault, six of recklessly endangering another person, five of aggravated assault, four each of careless driving and disregarding traffic lanes, three of improper turning movements, two each of violation of limitations of driving on the left side of the road, unsafe pass on the left, failure to stop and give information and accident involving damage to attended vehicle or property, and one each of resisting arrest, fleeing or eluding police, failure to yield to emergency vehicle, improper backing up, reckless driving and failure to drive at a safe speed.
At the end of First Assistant District Attorney Maria T. Casey's case on Monday, Baldwin dismissed three additional counts of aggravated assault.
Prosecutors allege that after Pino committed a theft at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Saint Clair, he fled north in his white Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle on Route 61, got on Interstate 81 north, exited onto Route 54 east and then turned around at the Ryan Township Fire Company and headed west toward Mahanoy City. Police said they forced him onto a median, but Pino got his SUV off it, in the process striking Carey's car and the car of Frackville borough police Patrolman Christopher Hand.
"I grabbed Mr. Pino by the shirt. He was messing with the shift," Hand testified. "If I hadn't let go of Mr. Pino's shirt, I probably would have been on top of my car or under Mr. Pino's car."
Police said they eventually forced Pino off White Owl Road and, when he refused to surrender and continued to try to get his SUV out of a ditch, Carey shot him in the right shoulder.
"My fear was for the safety of all the officers involved. I felt that sort of force was necessary," Carey said.
"Did you shoot him as a last resort?" Casey asked Carey
"Yes," Carey replied. "If he got free ... (state police) Trooper (Michael) Allar was in grave danger."
Carey said he suffered lower back and other injuries that, in spite of continued treatment and therapy, prevent him from working and sharply restrict his daily life.
Hand said Pino did not stop revving his engine until after Carey's second shot.
Allar testified he had put stop sticks - strips that have spikes in them that deflate tires - on Route 54 in an effort to stop Pino, who continued to drive. Allar said he eventually forced Pino's SUV onto a concrete median, only to see Pino come at him again.
"He drives right at me," Allar said while examining the DVD made from the film taken by Carey's dashboard camera. "He was bent on getting out of there."
Brandon Alexander, Mahanoy Township police officer in charge, testified he helped get Pino onto White Owl Road, where Allar executed a pit maneuver that forced Pino off the road.
"There was a lot of screaming and yelling" at the White Owl Road scene, Alexander said.
Allar, who said he had his car's lights and sirens on during the entire chase, testified he had to use his Taser on Pino to help subdue him.
The incident started at 2:27 p.m. when Pino stole 16 packages of meat and three of shrimp from Wal-Mart, according to John Bossler, the store's asset protection manager.
"I observed him placing several selections of meat into his cart," Bossler testified.
Bossler said Pino then drove his shopping cart past the cash registers and security sensors, but was stopped just before he left the store.
"Mr. Pino pushed the cart and tried to run around me," but left without the meat or shrimp, according to Bossler.
Other prosecution witnesses included:
- Gregory Hamilton, Pottsville, who saw Pino being chased in the store parking lot and was able to get his license plate number.
- State police Trooper Andrew Letcavage, who said Pino committed numerous traffic violations on Route 54 and ignored the lights and sirens signaling him to stop. Letcavage said he participated in the chase and helped get Pino out of his SUV.
- State police Trooper Joseph Aponick, who participated in Pino's arrest on White Owl Road.
- James Steffen, Schuylkill Haven, an employee of Schuylkill Paving Co., who said Pino almost hit him while leaving Wal-Mart's parking lot.