An enraged John J. Joseph leaped from his black 2005 Jaguar S-Type and shouted at a police officer that monkeys were in his car.
Moments later, Joseph fled from the Butler County officer who stopped to help him, starting a nearly hour-long, high-speed police chase on Interstate 79.
"He was screaming at the officer that he had monkeys in his car," said Jackson police Chief Len Keller. "I don't think any monkeys were found."
Keller said the Jackson officer saw a car with its hazard lights flashing about 6 a.m. Sunday, stopped on the I-79 northbound ramp near exit 85. The driver, he said, "jumped out of his car, came back toward the officer, yelling and screaming."
The officer used a Taser to subdue the man, but watched him pull the barbed prong that delivers an electrical charge out of his body and get back into his car.
"The pursuit was on," Keller said.
Tasers don't always work. Sometimes the weapon fails to establish an electrical current because one or both probes miss the target; sometimes a wire that connects the probes to the Taser breaks; sometimes one or both probes get caught on the person's clothing, said Steve Ashley, a police officer in Michigan and law enforcement consultant.
Keller said he had not reviewed the police report or a video Monday and did not know whether Joseph was driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol.
Joseph, 31, of Leetsdale led police officers and Pennsylvania state troopers on a 50-minute, 75-mile chase at speeds reaching 130 mph, state police said. The pursuit ended abruptly when Joseph crashed into a bridge at the 55-mile marker of I-79.
"Our goal when anyone is a danger to themselves or other motorists is to do our best to stop the action of the individual," said Trooper Robin Mungo, a spokeswoman for the state police. "In general, we don't want to see anyone get hurt."
State police won't give specifics about what triggers or halts a pursuit because they say those details could aid criminals.
At least one person was injured during the chase: A state trooper, whose name the agency did not release, broke his hand as police tried to take Joseph into custody, said Butler-based Trooper Ronald Kesten.
Shortly after entering Lawrence County while driving northbound, Joseph drove through a highway emergency crossover onto the southbound lane of I-79, Kesten said.
Before smashing into the bridge abutment near Heidelberg, Joseph hit several vehicles and damaged several police cruisers.
Joseph is being held on a $100,000 cash bond in the Butler County Prison, a jail official said. He faces multiple counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, fleeing or eluding a police officer, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and traffic violations. He is scheduled to appear in Butler County Court on Sept 7.
Court documents show Joseph was in the third year of four years of parole. He was sentenced in 2007 after pleading guilty to burglary in Allegheny County. During that sentencing, Joseph pled guilty to loitering and prowling, theft and receiving stolen property.
Court documents show Joseph was sentenced to 12 months' probation in 2006 after pleading guilty to open lewdness in Allegheny County.
