Attempted homicide suspect dies after leaping from Connellsville building while under arrest
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A suspect accused of trying to kill another man with a crowbar at a Fayette County convenience store last month died over the weekend when he jumped through a window in a vacant Connellsville building after police officers arrested him Friday night.
Bernard J. Geisel was handcuffed and being escorted by Connellsville police down a stairwell inside the unoccupied Brimstone Building when he leaped headfirst through the closed window and fell onto the sidewalk below shortly after 10 p.m.
Geisel, 42, of Uniontown, was initially taken to Penn Highlands Hospital for treatment, but later transported to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, where he died early Saturday about four hours after the incident, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. The cause and manner of his death were not immediately released, and it was not known if an autopsy would be performed.
Video of the incident posted on social media showed Geisel with his hands cuffed behind his back walking a few steps ahead of Connellsville police officers as they shined flashlights to illuminate the building’s stairwell. Geisel then lunged forward and appeared to push himself through the closed window, breaking the glass with his head before tumbling about 25 feet in the air and landing near a police vehicle. The video later showed police officers surrounding Geisel and attempting to render aid.
State police are investigating the incident since Connellsville police were involved in the arrest.
“There was no struggle. He just literally jumped out of the window while handcuffed,” said Trooper Kaylee Barnhart, a state police spokesperson for the Uniontown barracks.
Connellsville police officers had been called to the building at Pittsburgh Street and Crawford Avenue for a report of a squatter trespassing inside. After identifying Geisel, they soon learned he was also wanted for attempted homicide following an incident at a Redstone Township gas station on Dec. 14.
In that incident, state police said Geisel tried to run over another man with his car and later attempted to attack him with a crowbar outside the Sheetz convenience store on Grindstone Road. Geisel then left the scene, while the other man had to be taken to WHS-Greene hospital near Waynesburg for treatment.
State police charged Geisel with attempted homicide and aggravated assault, and an arrest warrant had been issued while authorities were searching for him.