Police accuse Vandergrift man who claimed he was assaulted of being the perpetrator

A Vandergrift man awaiting trial on charges that he assaulted police officers when they tried to arrest him in January for skipping a court hearing has been accused of trying to run over a man and threatening to shoot him because he is black, according to investigators.

Thomas Henry Suppers, 38, of the 500 block of Sycamore Street was charged Oct. 27 with felony counts of illegal possession of a firearm, attempted aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation, along with counts of making terroristic threats and resisting arrest.

Suppers was being detained in the Westmoreland County jail in lieu of a $50,000 cash bond to await a preliminary hearing Nov. 14 before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec, according to court records.

Vandergrift police wrote in a criminal complaint that Suppers called 911 on Oct. 28 and reported being the victim of the crimes he eventually was charged with committing.

He told police he was in the parking lot of a pharmacy along Longfellow Street when he was nearly struck by a black SUV driven by a man who began screaming at him, the complaint said.

Investigators said Suppers berated the 911 dispatcher and mentioned having a gun, the complaint said. Before hanging up, Suppers told the dispatcher that “he was just going to handle it.”

When police questioned the man, he told them that Suppers drove a black Chrysler onto his property and began screaming profanities at him, the complaint said.

He told police Suppers then pulled away, made a U-turn and began “lunging” the vehicle toward him, the complaint said.

Police traced the 911 call Suppers made to his home, where they found the Chrysler parked outside, the complaint said.

The woman who answered the door refused to ask Suppers to come outside to speak with officers so they entered the home, police said.

Because Suppers was accused of threatening someone with a gun, the officers ordered him to show his hands and get on the floor, according to the complaint.

When he ignored the commands, an officer used a leg sweep to bring Suppers to the floor, where they struggled, the complaint said.

Suppers was struck and kneed several times by the officer while he was trying to put him in handcuffs, police said.

Suppers was taken into custody after an officer used a stun gun to subdue him when he tried to reach for a knife they found in his waistband, police said.

Suppers was arrested in February by Lower Burrell police after a traffic stop. He was awaiting trial on a felony strangulation charge in Armstrong County at the time of his arrest. That trial has not yet been held, court records show.

Suppers initially was charged with driving with a suspended license in a car that had no insurance and had an expired registration and inspection.

But police filed three felony counts of aggravated assault and counts of simple assault and resisting arrest after two officers were injured in a scuffle at the police station when he was taken into custody, according to a criminal complaint.