Man facing charges after police chase on busy Ambridge road

AMBRIDGE, Pa. — Channel 11 has learned new details about a police chase that happened in Beaver County on Tuesday.

It happened in broad daylight on busy Duss Avenue in Harmony Township and Ambridge.

The chase took place shortly after dismissal at Ambridge High School.

According to the criminal complaint, Joseph “Pee Wee” Dillen was driving over the center line and was known to have a suspended license. When Harmony Township Police tried to pull him over, the chase began.

Police say he traveled at a “high rate of speed” driving around cars at a stoplight and eventually crashed into a pickup truck.

Thomas Friend travels Duss Avenue just about every day and works at Harvey’s Auto Body and Towing. That’s where Dillen’s white Buick SUV was taken after the crash.

“It was pretty bad. It smashed another truck,” Friend said.

After crashing, documents show Dillen ran away on foot, tried to climb a retaining wall and fell. Police arrested him and found a small bag of white rocks nearby. Those rocks tested positive for cocaine.

Friend tells Channel 11 he’s just glad things didn’t end much worse.

“There’s kids and schools letting out. There was a lot of stuff going on yesterday,” he said. “[It could’ve been] a lot worse. Someone could’ve been hurt, killed, something like that.”

According to police, Dillen injured his foot when he fell from the retaining wall and had to have surgery. At last check, he was still in the hospital and faces a number of charges.

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