Police: Armstrong County man assaulted 4 officers, stole 3 vehicles

An Armstrong County man is accused of assaulting four police officers Thursday after he was arrested on charges of stealing three vehicles in New Kensington and Lower Burrell.

Drew Edward Simmers, 31, of Manor Township, was arraigned in two cases Friday on charges including four counts of aggravated assault, theft, mischief and institutional vandalism. Simmers was taken to Westmoreland County Prison after failing to post bond, set at $75,000 in one case and $50,000 in the other.

New Kensington police said in a criminal complaint that Simmers stole a Ford van belonging to the Westmoreland County Housing Authority from East Ken Manor, a Ford pickup from 7th Street Extension in New Kensington and a Toyota pickup from Glauser Drive in Lower Burrell.

The complaint said a Lower Burrell resident had reported a suspicious man in the area of Electric Avenue around 11:30 a.m. The caller reported that he was driving the Ford van.

Police determined the van had been taken from the corner of Haser and Dent drives at East Ken Manor, and the authority didn’t know it was missing.

Shortly after noon and a short distance away from Electric Avenue, police said they got a report that a Ford pickup had been stolen from a house in the 800 block of 7th Street Extension in New Kensington. An officer got a clear look at the driver when the vehicle went past him on 7th Street Road toward Upper Burrell, the complaint said.

The theft of the Toyota pickup from Glauser Drive was reported to Lower Burrell police around 12:30 p.m. The Ford pickup had been left there.

Allegheny Township police detained Simmers after officers spotted the Toyota at Bethesda and Markle roads shortly after 12:30 p.m.

Simmers’ own car, a Chevrolet Cobalt, was found abandoned on Dent Drive, near where the housing authority van had been stolen, the complaint said.

The other complaint filed against Simmers said that shortly after Westmoreland County Sheriff’s deputies picked him up from the police station around 5:30 p.m., he kicked out the window partition in their vehicle and they returned to the station.

As two officers were walking Simmers to a holding cell, police said Simmers “twisted his body in a violent manner,” hitting an officer in the neck and head with his right elbow. Police said Simmers was taken to the ground, where he continued to resist and fight with four officers, kicking and elbowing them multiple times and damaging their equipment.

Police said they placed Simmers in a holding cell while deputies got another vehicle. While in the holding cell, police said Simmers damaged a bed.

Simmers did not have an attorney listed in court records.