During drug bust, suspect rams into task force car in Lower Burrell, police say

A Pittsburgh man is facing drug delivery and aggravated assault charges after almost backing his car into a police officer during a drug bust Tuesday in Lower Burrell.

Corey Steven Prunty, 31, of Pittsburgh, is charged with aggravated assault, criminal use of a communication facility (a cell phone), and a number of drug charges during a drug sting set up by police.

Agents from the state Attorney General’s Office and the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force worked with an informant to set up a drug deal to buy heroin and crack cocaine from a man known as “Juda”; police identified Juda in court documents as Prunty.

The deal was set for Tuesday in the Sheetz parking lot along Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell. The informant agreed to buy three “bricks” of heroin and two grams of cocaine from Prunty, according to police.

Police gave this account in Prunty’s arrest papers:

Agents and Lower Burrell police positioned themselves in the parking lot and then got word from the informant when Prunty would arrive. Prunty parked in front of the liquor store next to the Sheetz parking lot.

Agents with “police” markings on their clothing and a fully marked Lower Burrell police K-9 unit approached Prunty’s SUV. One agent stepped in front of Prunty’s vehicle, with gun drawn and pointed at Prunty, yelling “Police. Show me your hands.”

Prunty put his car in reverse and rammed into an Attorney General’s Office vehicle. A police officer was standing next to the front of the vehicle and was able to move and avoid being hit, police said.

With his vehicle penned in by the Attorney General’s vehicle, Prunty raised his hands for police to make an arrest. Police say they found 3.4 grams of crack cocaine with a street value of $340 and three bricks of heroin valued at about $750, according to Lower Burrell police.

Prunty is in the Westmoreland County Prison in lieu of posting $150,000 bond.

Prunty’s preliminary hearing is set for May 4 at 3:20 p.m. before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec.