An East Pittsburgh man is in custody after a chase through several communities early Tuesday, police said.
The chase began in Wilkins at about 3 a.m., Wilkins police Chief Keith Guthrie said. An officer on patrol spotted what he believed was a stolen pickup on Brown Avenue and tried to pull the vehicle over, Guthrie said.
The truck sped away, and the officer began a pursuit through Wilkins, across the Parkway East, over the Homestead Grays Bridge, through West Mifflin and into Pittsburgh, the chief said.
The pickup crashed in a yard on McBride Avenue in the Lincoln Place section of Pittsburgh, Guthrie said.
Driver Toby Whitman, 33, ran into nearby Brown's Trailer Park and was caught in a backyard by officers, Guthrie said. A woman in the truck was taken into custody.
Police believe Whitman robbed a Comfort Inn on Rodi Road in Wilkins with a machete on Saturday and was involved in two robberies at the same Home Depot on Route 22 in Wilkins on Sunday.
"This guy was on some kind of drug spree or something," Guthrie said.
Whitman was charged with receiving stolen property, reckless endangerment, fleeing and eluding police, armed robbery, theft, drugs and burglary. He is in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of a $10,000 cash bond.
