Man backs SUV over victim after gas-station altercation that started at nearby motel
NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. (KDKA) -- A White Oak man is in jail after allegedly running his Jeep into another man following an argument.
North Huntingdon police said 45-year-old Alan Israel sent a victim flying into the air after he hit him with his SUV.
Investigators said the two men, who are strangers, got into an argument at the Huntingdon Inn Motel just down the road. The bad blood continued in a Sheetz parking lot along Route 30 on Sunday morning. That's where the two men continued arguing, and as the victim was leaving the store, police said Israel hit him with his Jeep.
"When the victim was hit, he was hit hard enough that he was launched into the air and hit the ground pretty hard," North Huntingdon Police Officer Troy Pecina said.
Pecina said he responded to the incident just after 8:30 a.m. Sunday, and added that the victim somehow was not injured.
"If that driver would have continued and ran him over fully, it would have been serious injuries," Pecina told KDKA.
After speaking with the victim, investigators checked surveillance video of the incident. They said they found the victim was walking in the handicap parking spot when Israel made no attempt to avoid him when he backed his Jeep out of a parking spot. Israel is accused of accelerating the SUV before slowing down and then hitting the victim before driving off.
"It was definitely not an accident," Pecina said.
As officers continued speaking with the victim, Israel came back to the scene and parked nearby. The suspect identified him to investigators. He allegedly told officers it was an accident.
"When I did say to him, 'I watched the video,' he said OK and cooperated fully from that point,'" Pecina said Monday.
Israel is in the Westmoreland County Jail on $50,000 bond. He is charged with aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and reckless driving. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 15.
