South Park man ordered to trial in threats against police
A South Park man who was shot by a Monongahela police officer was ordered Thursday to face trial for threatening a police officer who was guarding him this month in a Pittsburgh hospital.
During a preliminary hearing, Allegheny County Judge Kim Berkeley Clark ordered the suspect, Joshua Dewayne Burton, 29, to be held for court on charges of making terroristic threats and disorderly conduct, online court records show.
Burton allegedly made the threats about shooting police on Aug. 5 to Allegheny police officer Scott Moffat at UPMC-Mercy. Moffat said Burton became angry that day because he was denied the use of a phone.
He was recuperating at the time from a gunshot wound to the stomach he suffered Aug. 3 when an unidentified Monongahela police officer shot him during a struggle in which the officer said he feared for his life.
The Monongahela officer attempted to pull Burton over in Finleyville for driving without headlights. A vehicle pursuit took them to a narrow street in South Park Township, where the vehicle Burton was driving crashed into a parked car and house on Edgewood Street about 3 a.m.
The Monongahela officer told Allegheny police Burton had struck him several times before he drew his semiautomatic handgun and fired one shot at Burton.
A preliminary hearing in that case was continued Wednesday before District Judge Michael W. Thatcher. It has been rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 11.
Burton was charged in that case with aggravated assault and resisting arrest.
Burton was denied bond because a district judge considered him to be a threat to the community. He remains in Allegheny County jail.