A Robinson police officer is facing assault charges after, authorities say, he punched a township business owner during a road-rage spat while off duty.
Allegheny County Police charged Steven Pies, 50, of Robinson on Wednesday with one count each of aggravated assault and simple assault.
Investigators said Pies attacked Alan Canneila, the owner of Al’s Texaco station, last month.
Canneila told police he missed a yield sign around 9 p.m. July 2 while driving near Route 51. He drove around Pies, who was in a Dodge Ram truck, according to a complaint in the case.
Pies angrily confronted Canneila after following him more than two miles to Canneila’s service station on Forest Grove Road in Robinson, the complaint said.
“You had a yield sign, dude, you could of (expletive) me up. You had a (expletive) yield sign, Al,” Pies shouted at the victim, according to audio the complaint said was recorded on a nearby doorbell camera.
“Say something, dumb (expletive),” Pies added, the complaint said.
Canneila didn’t respond.
Police said Pies then punched Canneila once in the jaw. He knocked Canneila into his pickup truck hard enough that the fall dented the vehicle and left traces of blood, the complaint said.
Canneila blacked out.
A witness told police Canneila was “out of it” after the incident and was bleeding from his chin and mouth, where he had suffered “a deep cut,” the complaint said.
X-rays later showed Canneila also had broken two ribs, the complaint said. A third rib was possibly fractured.
Canneila reported the incident to Robinson police on July 7. They began investigating and upon realizing the alleged attacker was one of their own, they turned the case over to county police.
Robinson police Sgt. John Sweeney told investigators Pies approached him about two weeks after the confrontation, as Sweeney was leaving the police station to go home.
“I think I (messed) up,” Pies told Sweeney, according to the complaint. “I was involved in an incident at Al’s Texaco.”
Sgt. Sweeney, Pies’ supervisor for seven years, told investigators he “had no issues” with the officer, the complaint said.
Canneila later saw the vehicle his alleged assailant was driving the day of the incident in front of a Robinson home, which turned out to be Pies’, the complaint said. Canneila then found a photo of the officer on social media.
Police said Canneila’s physical description of his attacker also matches Pies.
Pies was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Carla M. Swearingen-Batch, who set his bail at $20,000.
Pies was not in the Allegheny County Jail on Friday, officials there said.
Robinson officials — including police Chief Timothy Westwood and Township Manager Frank L. Piccolino III — did not return phone calls or emails Friday seeking comment.
Pies’ phone number was not available. His attorney was not listed in court records.
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