A man from Guatemala is now in Indiana County Jail after leading Blairsville police on a chase Sunday evening.
Officers were dispatched at 8:30 PM to South Spring Street for a report of a young woman and a baby jumping from a moving vehicle. Eyewitnesses described the van they jumped from to police, and as they were being treated by Citizens Ambulance, 22-year-old Ronny Gomez Lopez returned to the scene in the van. Police tried to conduct a traffic stop but he quickly fled. The chase ended when Lopez hit a retaining wall along East Brown Street. Lopez then started to flee on foot for a few blocks, but police eventually used a taser to subdue him. When police went back to inspect the van, they found a three-year-old child in the vehicle.
When police talked with the woman, she said Lopez was speeding and punching her when she and the baby fell out of the van due to the door not being fully shut. Those two were taken to Forbes Hospital for treatment, while the child found in the van was flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh and is in critical condition.
Lopez was taken to IRMC for treatment before being placed in jail on charges of child endangerment, fleeing or attempting to elude police, simple assault, evading arrest on foot, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment, and DUI.
