https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/police-woman-faces-gun-drug-charges-after-speeding-past-officer-on-the-berm-in-a-snowstorm/
Police: Woman faces gun, drug charges after speeding past officer on the berm in a snowstorm
Lower Burrell police charged a woman with a felony count of carrying a gun without a permit after she was pulled over for using the shoulder of the road to speed past an officer on Route 56 during a snowstorm, police said.
In addition to the gun charge, Susan Ann Spiewak, 44, of Meadow Street, McKeesport faces drug charges and traffic citations in connection with the Jan. 16 incident, according to the criminal complaint on the case.
She faces a preliminary hearing March 1 before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec.
An officer on patrol in a marked police cruiser said he was driving in the right lane along Route 56 just past Wildlife Lodge Road when a Toyota sedan passed him using the shoulder of the road “at a speed unsafe for the hazardous road conditions.”
Between 9 and 11 inches of snow fell in parts of the Alle-Kiski Valley on Jan. 16 and 17, placing the region under a winter weather advisory, according to the National Weather Service in Moon Township.
The officer wrote in the complaint that Spiewak provided no explanation for why she used the shoulder of the road to pass his car.
While the officer was speaking to Spiewak, she reached over to the passenger seat to retrieve an identification badge she wanted to show him, the complaint said.
The officer said the badge was concealing two small bags of suspected marijuana and two glass pipes on the seat, which were confiscated, according to the complaint.
When asked if there was anything else illegal in the vehicle, Spiewak told police she had a gun along with a concealed carry permit, the complaint said.
The officer retrieved a Kel-Tec semi-automatic pistol from a Victoria’s Secret bag that was on the floor of the car, the complaint said.
Spiewak told police the gun belonged to her former boyfriend. But when officers checked the serial number they found no record of ownership, according to her arrest papers.
Police also learned that a concealed carry permit issued to Spiewak by Westmoreland County had expired last July.
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