Officer dragged, suspect shot after carjacking and chase in Bethel Park
The suspect, Richard Desabetino, was wanted on theft charges, but police were serving a warrant for another woman at the home he was at in Baldwin. The 33-year-old Desabetino took off and hit a police officer and dragged him with his car.
The third, but not final, scene in a chase that had the suspect carjacking two vehicles after abandoning his own and exchanging gunfire with police.
A man accused of dragging a Baldwin police officer from his car and leading police on a chase through the South Hills is facing 15 charges after an officer shot him in the back on August 6. According to the criminal complaint, Richard DeSabetino, 33, dragged officer Sean Biagini with his sedan as he fled the 1100 block of Bonni Drive when police were attempting to serve a warrant for Amy Calabrese, 31, who was wanted on theft charges. Biagni suffered a severe head injury and was taken to the hospital. Desabetino, also wanted for stealing and selling a bicycle, fled after he was asked to identify himself. DeSabetino faces five counts of wreckless endangerment, three counts of aggravated assault and one count each of robbery and evading police, among other charges.
Officers chased DeSabetino through South Park before he abandoned his vehicle and stole an Oldsmobile sedan. He then drove through Bethel Park and wrecked that car into a Ford F150 at the intersection of Baptist Road and Grandview Farms Drive before carjacking another vehicle and speeding into the Grandview Farms housing development where he was cornered by police and arrested, Allegheny County police superintendent Charles Moffatt said at the scene. As police chased the suspect, Bethel Park officer John Symsek fired 10 shots at him as he barrelled down the wrong side of Grandview Place. Of the reported 17 shots fired by county, Baldwin and Bethel Park police, one struck DeSebatino in the back as officers engaged him in the driver’s seat. DeSabetino was in the trauma center at Allegheny General Hospital listed in serious condition as of August 11.
Bethel Park Police Chief John Mackey said no other officers were reported injured.