Pittsburgh Exxon station operators, clerk guilty of reduced charge in fight with women

Three men accused of assaulting a woman after a dispute over spilled gasoline at an Exxon station on the North Side last year — resulting in a viral video, days of protests and the store being shut down — were found guilty on Tuesday of a reduced, summary count of harassment.

Sukhjinder Sadhra, 36, of Ross, Baldar Singh, 41, of Harmar and Scott Hill, 51, of Pittsburgh, were ordered to pay $300 in fines and court costs.

The verdict by Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski followed a daylong nonjury trial in which just three witnesses testified.

Attorney Todd Hollis, who represents sisters Jamila and Ashia Regan, said they will continue to pursue their civil case against the gas station operators. pic.twitter.com/QyoWsZsA8w

— Paula Reed Ward (@PaulaReedWard) October 27, 2020

Sadhra and Singh, who were the operators of the gas station at 2501 Brighton Road, as well as Hill, who was a cashier at the store, were charged following the Sept. 20, 2019 incident.

They were accused of assaulting Jamila Regan, of Pittsburgh, who had stopped at the station with her sister to get gas that evening.

Regan testified Tuesday that she prepaid $17 inside the gas station, but when she went to pump the fuel, it began spilling out of the nozzle.

She said she went inside to inform the clerk, and was told to move her car to a different pump. Regan testified that she then asked the store’s owners for a refund and was refused.

“They were telling me I was a liar,” Jamila Regan said.

A short time later, her sister, Ashia Regan, approached the men outside the store, Jamila Regan testified. The men became aggressive toward her sister, Jamila Regan said.

Jamila Regan testified that Singh pushed her sister down, while Sahdra repeatedly slapped Jamila on the back.

Then, she said, Hill grabbed her by the shirt and slammed her head into a gas pump.

When the fight stopped outside, video shows Ashia Regan went into the store and began to knock over shelves and items for sale. She was followed inside by the men, and the physical confrontation continued. Jamila Regan went inside as well, as Singh can be seen on video dragging her out of the store by her long braids.

“I felt like I was going to die,” Jamila Regan testified. “There was nobody there to help us.

“I couldn’t breathe.”

Defense attorneys for all three men questioned Jamila Regan about her own behavior that day — questioning if she struck any of the men.

She denied that, repeating over and over, “This is my sister getting assaulted by your client,” Regan said, her voice rising. “They attacked my sister. Your client attacked my sister.”

Singh’s defense attorney, Lyle Dresbold, stopped her, saying, “There’s no question in front of you ma’am.”

Regan continued, “My intentions were not to fight. I did not want to fight. I did not want to fight.”

“You didn’t hit him?” Dresbold repeated.

“I did not want to fight,” she replied.

The prosecution did not call Ashia Regan to testify. Instead, Assistant District Attorney Michael Pradines said during his closing argument that she was not a victim in the case, and that her behavior was inappropriate.

“We see it in the video what she’s doing,” Pradines said.

But, he continued, what the defendants did to Jamila Regan was also inappropriate.

“What they did to Jamila Regan was clearly disproportionate to whatever threat she posed to them.”

After the prosecution rested its case, the only defense witness was Hill. He testified that he’d been working at the store for about seven months, and that he only became involved in the altercation when he saw the women attacking his bosses.

He said that Ashia Regan slapped Singh and spit in his face.

Then, Hill said, he saw Sahdra being hit in the back of the head and neck by Jamila Hill.

“I pulled her off and put her down on the ground with no intention to hit her,” Hill said. “I just threw her and walked back into the store.”

Hill said he never hit, kicked or punched anyone.

“I was 100% trying to stop the whole thing.”

Dresbold said in closing arguments that the entire incident began because of Ashia Regan.

“If she didn’t act, frankly, ridiculously and in such a deviation from what we expect in society, there wouldn’t have been a reaction,” he said. “It’s clear, Ashia Regan was the aggressor.”

Dresbold said it was Ashia Regan who first initiated physical contact with the men.

“She was the one who caused all of the issues we’re dealing with today.”

Singh, his attorney said, had scratches all over his back, arms and legs and ripped shirt and pants.

Dresbold argued that the men’s reactions were justified.

Sasinoksi threw out charges of conspiracy against the defendants and reduced the misdemeanor count of simple assault to summary harassment.

After the incident at the gas station, the business closed down.