May 30, 2017 3 min read

A Monessen man faces drug and other charges after he allegedly fled a traffic stop before a city police officer tackled him as he scaled a fence Sunday.

Samuel B. Dickerson, 23, of 321 Short St., faces charges of heroin possession and possession with intent to deliver, resisting arrest, flight to avoid apprehension, disorderly conduct and driving without a valid license, certificate of inspection and emission inspection.

Monessen police filed the charges Monday, a day after Officer Brian Mickens said he spotted expired emission and inspection stickers on the gold Lincoln Continental Dickerson was driving. Another officer pulled over the vehicle near Second Street and Knox Avenue.

Mickens wrote in an affidavit supporting the charges he arrived to find Dickerson in the driver’s seat and a female passenger in the car. Mickens said he became suspicious when he saw a black bag on the floor under Dickerson’s legs.

Dickerson reportedly denied having anything illegal in the vehicle and hesitated for a moment before consenting to a search. After Dickerson got out of the vehicle, Mickens opened the bag and said he found “what I believed to be a box of ammo wrapped in a pink pillow case. I continued further and also observed what appeared to be a clear plastic freezer bag with what appeared (to) be numerous bundles of suspected heroin.”

Mickens said he then ordered the other officer to detain Dickerson, who allegedly ran down Utah Alley as Mickens walked toward him.

Mickens said in court papers he stumbled on loose concrete as the suspect ran by him. After cutting through several yards, Dickerson allegedly tried to jump a fence on the 500 block of First Street, which Mickens reportedly pushed him over, “and I continued my forward momentum with him through, breaking the fence where we both fell.”

Along with the ammunition and 16 bundles of what police suspected was heroin, they allegedly found a 10-inch knife, $5,653 and two cellphones in the car.

The passenger was taken to the police station, read her rights and released after questioning. Court records show she hasn’t been charged. Dickerson was taken to the city police station. He said he’d punched a wall or window a few days earlier, and was taken to Mon Valley Hospital for X-rays of his hand. He was treated before sheriff’s deputies took him to Westmoreland County jail. He is free on $10,000 bond set by District Judge Wayne Gongaware.

Court papers don’t list an attorney for Dickerson.