By Michael Hasch
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH — A toddler escaped injury Wednesday when two undercover police officers, who didn’t see the child buckled into a car seat, opened fire on an alleged drug suspect trying to run them down with an SUV in Knoxville.
“The message is, ‘Don’t take a baby to a drug deal,’ ” Pittsburgh police Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant said, explaining that the officers couldn’t see the baby, who was in the back of the vehicle. “Leave the baby at home.”
The two officers and the toddler’s 18-year-old baby-sitter suffered minor injuries in the incident that occurred during a controlled drug buy at 12:41 p.m. in the 200 block of Zara Street, Bryant said.
It is not known if the accused drug dealer, Jarrell Anthony Dawson, 19, was wounded when each detective fired a single shot as Dawson drove the sport utility vehicle into them, pinning them against a chain-link fence, Bryant said.
Dawson drove off, crashing into some parked vehicles, before abandoning the SUV a short time later on Ibis Way, Bryant said. She said officers couldn’t believe what they saw in the back seat.
“To their surprise, they found a 1-year-old male,” Bryant said.
Officers in marked city police vehicles and undercover detective cars and SWAT officers searched streets in Knoxville, Beltzhoover and Mt. Oliver, including several abandoned and occupied homes, trying to locate Dawson. Detectives also stopped several passing vehicles and questioned residents.
Detectives, who obtained a warrant charging Dawson with a half-dozen crimes including delivery of heroin and assault on a police officer, were still searching for him last night. Police said he has ties with a gang of violent drug dealers from St. Clair Village known as “Darccide.”
The baby-sitter, Jennifer Jetter of Knoxville, whose leg was run over by the SUV after she fell out of the front passenger’s seat, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to deliver heroin, endangering the welfare of a child and making false reports to police officers, Bryant said.
"(Jetter) is not the mother of the child,” Bryant said. “The mother was at work at the time. She was devastated when she heard what happened. The grandmother was devastated.”
Bryant said the undercover officers watched as Dawson completed a prearranged drug buy and then, displaying their badges and identifying themselves, moved in to arrest him when he got back inside the vehicle.
“There was no chance of mistaken identity,” Bryant said. “The neighbors heard them yelling, ‘Pittsburgh Police!’ ”
Dawson backed into a parked undercover police car, then pulled forward, jumping the curb and pinning the detectives who opened fire, Bryant said. Dawson then drove off, barely missing a third detective and ramming a second police car and another vehicle. The officers were not identified.
As the SUV swerved back onto sidewalk, Jetter grabbed the door handle and fell out, Bryant said. She was treated at UPMC Mercy, Uptown.
One officer suffered a leg injury and the other a lower back injury, Bryant said. Both were examined by paramedics and were to seek additional medical care later.
Copyright 2010 Pittsburgh Tribune Review