Monroeville police arrest driver, say child was in his lap while he led officers on high-speed chase

A Penn Hills man was arrested on child endangerment and other charges Monday after police say he led them on a high-speed chase through part of Allegheny County while holding a 2-year-old boy on his lap.

Monroeville police said Daniel S. Chisolm, 40, reached speeds of up to 70 mph during the chase that covered about 10 miles in 17 minutes — ending in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood, at the home of the boy’s mother. Police said the child was unharmed and was left in the mother’s custody.

Police said they responded shortly before 3:30 a.m., when a motorist reported that a BMW pulled next to his car at a red light and an occupant asked him to call police, for an unknown reason.

A Monroeville officer spotted the BMW and followed it to a gas station in the 4300 block of Old William Penn Highway, but the car took off at high speed when the officer approached on foot, according to a criminal complaint.

Police said the car was “extremely erratic and was all over the road” as they pursued it west along Old William Penn Highway. When one officer pulled ahead of the car, it stopped under the Parkway East underpass and an officer spoke with the driver and saw a young child sitting unrestrained in the driver’s lap.

According to police, the driver referred to a custody issue but “was not making any sense with what he was saying and was also slurring his words.”

After less than two minutes, the driver pulled back onto the road, and the chase resumed toward Penn Hills, according to the complaint. The car swerved into oncoming lanes and almost collided head-on with multiple vehicles, police said.

The BMW slowed to between 30 mph and 40 mph when police broke off the pursuit, but the car “was still all over the roadway, almost crashing several times,” police said in the complaint.

Police said the BMW ran multiple red lights and stop signs and illegally passed other vehicles before they caught up with it in the driveway of a Pittsburgh home.

Police identified the driver as Chisolm through his driver’s license and took him into custody. They seized 194 grams of suspected cocaine from his pocket and, noting he had a strong odor of alcohol, had his blood drawn for testing at UPMC East Hospital in Monroeville, according to the complaint.

Chisolm was arraigned Monday before District Judge Daniel E. Butler and was placed in the Allegheny County Jail after failing to post $10,000 bail.

He also is charged with driving under the influence, fleeing or attempting to elude police, recklessly endangering another person, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, reckless driving and several other traffic violations.

An online court docket didn’t list an attorney representing Chisolm.