Man Allegedly Threw 2,600 Stamp Bags Of Heroin From Car During Pursuit
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NORTH HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A man allegedly threw more than 2,000 stamp bags of heroin out of his car during a police pursuit in North Huntingdon Township on Friday.
The incident began just before 10 p.m. on SR-30 eastbound near Carpenter Road.
According to a criminal complaint, two Pennsylvania State troopers were in an unmarked designated patrol cruiser when they noticed a red 2011 Chevrolet Camaro. They ran the plate and saw the vehicle had an expired registration and the registered owner had a suspended license.
The state troopers activated the emergency lights and sirens and tried to pull the vehicle over.
The driver, who was later identified as 34-year-old Laplez Gilmore Cummings, did not stop and a pursuit began.
The criminal complaint says Cummings ran red lights, cut other vehicles off and changed lanes during the pursuit. Cummings also allegedly appeared to throw a large item out of his passenger side window during the pursuit.
Police say after about 2.9 miles, Cummings jumped out of the vehicle while it was still moving. North Huntingdon Police saw Cummings jump out and were able to take him into custody with help from the K-9 unit.
"They see what appears to be somebody jumping out of a vehicle like a stunt man and does like a barrel roll out into Route 30, and the vehicle continues traveling down Route 30. The North Huntingdon Police officer had a K-9 with him and that police officer was able to unleash the K-9 and prior to the person even being pinned by the dog, he gave up instantly," Pennsylvania State Trooper Stephen Limani said.
Officers were able to ram the unoccupied vehicle with their police cruisers to push the vehicle off the road into a parking lot.
"We had a vehicle that was traveling at a fairly high rate of speed down Route 30 that was driverless. At points during that time frame, which was roughly about half a mile, it was crossing both parts of Route 30, which was extremely dangerous. Luckily, having the sheriff's department and specifically the warrant detail sheriffs traveling behind this vehicle, they made a split-second decision to try and stop that vehicle, and they rammed that vehicle and were able to force it off Route 30 into a parking lot," Limani said.
When police recovered the item Cummings allegedly threw out the window, they found it was a vacuum-sealed bag containing about 50 bricks of heroin, which police say would be 2,600 individual stamp bags.
Cummings allegedly admitted to throwing the heroin out of his vehicle and said what he did was wrong.
He is facing multiple charges, including fleeing and eluding police, possession of a controlled substance and driving without a license. He's jailed on $50,000 bond.