Penn Hills man charged with using stolen SUV carrying drugs to ram police vehicle

A Penn Hills man awaiting trial for multiple drug crimes was charged this week with carrying heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and a stolen gun and repeatedly smashing a stolen SUV into a police vehicle while trying to flee.

Allegheny County Police on Tuesday arrested Timothy Terry Jr. on 23 criminal charges, including aggravated assault and receiving stolen property, and multiple counts of drug possession and intent to deliver, court records show.

Terry, 26, remained in custody Tuesday at UPMC Mercy hospital, where he was being evaluated for asthmatic conditions, police said.

Around 8:20 p.m. Monday, plainclothes detectives first spotted Terry outside a Dollar General in Penn Hills, entering a black SUV that Enterprise Rent-A-Car had reported stolen from Pittsburgh International Airport a day earlier.

Police said Terry had bought baking soda in the store, which a criminal complaint called a common agent for cutting narcotics.

After police switched on their emergency lights outside the store to pull him over, Terry reversed the SUV twice into the front of the police vehicle, the complaint said. He then accelerated forward and crashed through the store’s front window, according to authorities.

Police removed Terry from the damaged SUV, the complaint said. He then tried to run away, shrugging off an officer’s Taser, police said. Police eventually caught him.

Inside the SUV, police found three bricks of heroin and fentanyl, five bundles of heroin and fentanyl, five bags of cocaine and a baggie of marijuana, the complaint said.

Officers also found a loaded .40-caliber handgun that had been reported stolen out of Adams County, near Gettysburg, the complaint said. A “Glock switch” found with the gun enabled it to be used as an automatic weapon.

Terry is scheduled for a nonjury trial May 13 on separate drug charges in front of Allegheny County Common Pleas Senior Judge Katherine B. Emery, court records show. 

In that case, Terry is facing six drug possession and distribution charges.

Last August, officers from Penn Hills, Wilkins and Monroeville found 81 bricks of fentanyl in a search of Terry’s Penn Hills home, a criminal complaint said.

A majority of the fentanyl was shrink-wrapped in a manner consistent with drug trafficking, police said.

Police also found two guns in the Deerfield Drive home, $12,000 in cash and a money-counting machine, the complaint said.

Police took Terry to the Allegheny County Jail. He was released after posting $10,000 bond.

Attorney Anne Marie Mancuso, who is representing Terry in the 2024 case, did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.

Terry last year entered the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition — or ARD — diversion program for first-time, non-violent offenders for a 2023 forgery case, court records show.