Driver charged in Fort Pitt Bridge driving stunt; trooper's vehicle hit
A Bridgeville man has been charged in connection with a driving stunt on the Fort Pitt Bridge in Pittsburgh early Friday morning that resulted in a state police vehicle being hit, according to Tribune-Review news partner WTAE-TV.
Jason Stotlemyer, 31, is charged by state police with felony counts of aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a vehicle and fleeing or attempting to elude police; and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and causing an accident involving damage to an occupied vehicle.
Traffic was blocked while drivers where doing burnouts on the bridge over the Monongahela River and the trooper’s car was hit while responding to the incident, police said.
A video on social media showed several drivers who police said were blocking the bridge to perform the stunts, including drag racing and donuts, WTAE reported.
Stotlemyer has not yet been arraigned on the charges as of Sunday morning, according to court records.
He has been charged with 24 traffic citations since 2018, court records show.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.