Greensburg, PA - Stabbing Suspect Assaults Police Officer - Suspect Tasered Trying To Steal Police Officer's Patrol Car
For Greensburg Police Officer Regina DePellegrin, it may have been the
longest three minutes of her life.
DePellegrin was trying to make an arrest after a stabbing early Friday morning
and ended up in a brawl with a man who shot her with a Taser gun, banged her
head against the police car and then tried to steal the vehicle.
Jeremy John Spisak, 19, a Seton Hill University student from McDonald in
Washington County, was arraigned yesterday morning before District Judge James
Albert in Greensburg. Spisak is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly
weapon, disarming a police officer, resisting arrest, burglary and attempted car
theft.
A handcuffed, silent Spisak sat before Albert yesterday as two police officers
stood near him during the arraignment. His parents sat nearby. He is being held
in the Westmoreland County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bond.
The incident began when DePellegrin answered a report that a knife-wielding man
forced his way into the Concord Avenue apartment of Christopher Steele, a
security guard at Excela Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg.
Steele never saw Spisak before until he showed up at his apartment pounding on
the door, Capt. George Seranko said.
"We don't know what made him like he was," the police chief said. "He was
crazed."
Spisak stabbed Steele several times until Steele pulled out a gun, according to
an affidavit. Spisak grabbed the barrel of Steele's gun and started fighting
again. Spisak then ran from the apartment and was stopped by DePellegrin in an
alley between Concord and Harrison avenues.
DePellegin tried to radio for backup. At the same time, the dispatcher was
broadcasting Spisak's description, so other police officers could not hear her
call for help, Seranko said.
Spisak pushed DePellegin away and tried to flee in her patrol car.
DePellegrin grabbed Spisak and tried to subdue him by firing her Taser gun, but
the probe embedded into the back seat of the car, according to the affidavit.
The two struggled. Spisak tried to steal the car again and began kicking
DePellegrin. Spisak then grabbed her by the hair and hit her head repeatedly
against the vehicle.
DePellegrin said Spisak then grabbed the Taser gun and fired it at her.
"I was able to feel the effects of the Taser in my hands multiple times," she
said.
Seranko said DePellegrin fought Spisak for three minutes until she was
exhausted. South Greensburg Police Officer Bryan Painter heard her radio call
and arrived to help, along with two nearby residents who heard the scuffle.
Together, they subdued Spisak.
Greensburg Patrolman Eugene Zulisky then arrived and fired his Taser at Spisak.
Seranko said Spisak was incoherent and was taken to Westmoreland Hospital.
Steele was treated for his stab wounds at the hospital, where he identified
Spisak as his assailant.
DePellegrin did not require hospital treatment, Seranko said.