MORGANTOWN — A Pennsylvania man is in jail after allegedly running from police when he was caught inside a vehicle that wasn’t his.
Morgantown Police charged Deonte L. Robinson, 23, of Wilkinsburg, Pa., with breaking and entering a vehicle, fleeing from an officer, obstructing an officer, possession of a controlled substance and petit larceny.
On Sunday, a 911 caller reported a man was trying to get into his vehicle on Nueva Drive in Suncrest and then ran from the area, according to a criminal complaint.
While patrolling the area, officer M. McCrobie noticed footprints in the snow leading to a car on Eastern Avenue and the inside dome light of the car was on, he wrote in the complaint. As he got closer, he saw a man inside.
As McCrobie continued toward the driver’s side of the vehicle, the man inside jumped out of the passenger side of the car and ran away, the complaint said. McCrobie shouted for him to stop and identified himself as police but the man, who matched the 911 caller’s description, kept running.
At one point during the chase, officers lost sight of the suspect, the complaint said. However, he was found again walking between houses and garages on Southview Drive, several blocks away.
The chase continued with McCrobie following the fresh footprints in the snow to a garage on Vista Place. According to the complaint, he saw a man lying on the ground with his legs under a vehicle parked in the garage and when more officers arrived, the suspect was arrested and identified as Robinson.
An orange Crown Royal bag with money – change and bills – was found in Robinson’s coat pocket, the complaint said. When it was found Robinson made a “sudden utterance that the contents of the Crown Royal bag was what he took from the vehicles.”
An excited utterance is legal jargon for blurting out a comment in response to a startling event and it is an exception to the hearsay rule — which basically means things not said in court don’t count against a defendant.
A wallet with $1,007 was also found on Robinson, according to the complaint. The money inside the Crown Royal bag totaled $66.49, and there was 2.3 grams of marijuana.
Robinson is being held in North Central Regional Jail on $7,500 bond.
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