Dump truck driver crashes through FBI Pittsburgh security gate

An Ohio man who claimed to have a bomb as he rammed his dump truck through a security gate Tuesday at the FBI's Pittsburgh headquarters in the South Side eluded officers as they chased him on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last month, authorities said.

“He hit our (security gate) intentionally,” FBI Special Agent Gregory Heeb said.

Pittsburgh police charged Thomas Richard Ross, 48, of New Waterford, Ohio — just west of Beaver County across the state line — with aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, fleeing and eluding and other driving offenses. Court records also list a Trafford address for him.

Ross suffered a head injury, likely from hitting the windshield or steering wheel, authorities said. He was treated in UPMC Presbyterian, then placed under arrest and held in Allegheny County Jail.

Police said Ross attempted to escape from the police car taking him from the hospital to jail.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh charged him with damaging government property and causing damage to property within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

State police on June 30 charged Ross with littering on the turnpike, eluding police at speeds more than 20 mph over speed limits and other charges. Troopers called off the chase, and the same sedan later was involved in a single-vehicle wreck in Maryland, said Angela Carsia, the Pittsburgh attorney representing Ross in that case.

Her father last year represented Ross in a traffic-related case that originated in Braddock.

Carsia said she was not aware of the incident Tuesday but admitted that some of the allegations sounded similar to the ones filed last month in Bedford County. Ross was released on $25,000 unsecured bond in that case and ordered to undergo a mental evaluation, court records show.

“I'm not saying my client did this (in Bedford County). These are the allegations,” Carsia said. “But he's had some issues — some skirmishes with the law.”

There was no indication that Tuesday's crash was motivated by terrorism, despite police saying Ross told them he had a bomb in the truck, Heeb said. City bomb squad members did not find any traces of explosives, he said.

About 10:50 a.m., a Pittsburgh police motorcycle officer traveled across the Birmingham Bridge and watched a large truck barrel down East Carson Street in the wrong lane in the direction of South Side Works, police said.

The officer activated his lights and sirens and pursued the truck, which authorities say Ross veered into oncoming traffic lanes to avoid stopping at a series of red lights for 11 blocks.

Ross turned left at South 33rd Street, traveling down the roadway that runs beside the heavily guarded FBI Pittsburgh office. He stopped at the curb in front of the agency's guard gate, police said.

The motorcycle officer and several other patrolmen ordered him to get out of his vehicle.

“Ross was acting erratically, claiming to have a bomb,” Pittsburgh's Department of Public Safety wrote in a statement.

Ross eventually indicated to officers that he intended to surrender and put his truck in reverse. He then put the vehicle back in drive and hit the gas pedal, authorities said.

“He did indicate that he would hit the FBI gate at some point during the exchange,” Heeb said. “He took off and went right through the gate.”

The dump truck smashed into a metal gate and a gate arm, and it destroyed a steel crash barrier protruding from the driveway. The truck temporarily went airborne before coming to rest in an employee parking area. The building was not hit.

The FBI and city police are looking into Ross' medical and criminal background, Heeb said.

The truck is registered to Ross in Ohio, Heeb said.

The FBI is investigating how long and why Ross was in the Pittsburgh area.

“Obviously, we are going to get to the bottom of that pretty quick,” he said. “This was a little extreme.”

Jason Cato is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7936 or jcato@tribweb.com.