PITTSBURGH — Two men were injured after fleeing from police and overturning their vehicle on Pittsburgh South Side Thursday evening, according to city police.
Authorities said officers were driving on Salisbury Street in the South Side Slopes when they approached a vehicle driving in the opposite direction.
Officers observed the driver, a 23-year-old man, who they knew from previous incidents did not possess a valid driver's license and believed there were warrants for his arrest.
As the officers turned their vehicle around to initiate a traffic stop, the vehicle sped away, and the driver eventually lost control and crashed into
the front porch of a residence in the 2400 block of Salisbury Street. Authorities said the collision caused the porch roof to collapse, but no one was
home at the residence at the time of the crash.
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"We heard a loud crash, big bang. It sounded like a tractor-trailer truck or a train," neighbor Brian Milbee said.
Pittsburgh police said the driver and his 25-year-old passenger fled on foot.
The fleeing men didn't get very far though, thanks in part to tentative residents.
"Everybody just converged. The neighbors just converged, 'He's over here,'" said witness Kathy Welsh.
Welsh said one of the men ran right into her, and a group of other neighbors pointed responding officers to the other man.
Authorities said one of the men was in possession of a firearm when he was apprehended.
Channel 11's Pamela Osborne said the mother of one of the men in the car was among those at the scene. The mother told Osborne that her car had been taken without her permission.
The homeowners of the porch that was struck told Osborne that the mother apologized for the damage her son caused.
"They can't do this and think people will turn a blind eye to this kind of stuff," Welsh said.
The homeowner, who did not want to be identified, told Channel 11's Cara Sapida that her 4-year-old would have been home at the time of the crash, but was at the park with his grandmother.
Police said both men were taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital for treatment of injuries they sustained in the crash.
Authorities said once released, the men, identified as Shang Smith and Bryant Boyd, will face charges. Those charges could include persons not to possess a firearm, fleeing and eluding police, unauthorized use of a vehicle and forgery for counterfeit money that officers found in the possession of the passenger.
WPXI
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