Baumgartner Preliminary Hearing Postponed Again

The preliminary hearing for a 30-year-old Sewickley man charged with assaulting police officers and kicking out the window of a police car in a Wexford Plaza incident was postponed Friday. 

The hearing for   was moved back to 9 a.m. July 15 before Magisterial District Judge Regis Welsh Jr. This is the second postponement.

He faces two felony counts of aggravated assault, two misdemeanor counts of simple assault, two misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person, one misdemeanor count of criminal mischief and one summary count of public drunkenness, court records state.

Baumgartner was charged after failing a field sobriety test, kicking out the back window of a police car and kicking two police officers as they got him out of the car, according to a Northern Regional Police Department report.

The charges stem from a May 18 afternoon incident in the rear parking lot of Levin Furniture in Wexford Plaza. Police were checking out a report of a man in the lot looking through parked vehicles.

A police report states there was "a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on (Baumgartner's) breath.”

Baumgartner failed several field sobriety tests and was placed in the back of a police car, the report says.

“While filling out the citation for public drunkenness and attempting to find someone to release him to, Eric Baumgartner kept moving around in the back of the car and complaining about getting out of the car,” according to the report.

Police told Baumgartner to stop moving around, the report says.

“Baumgartner then turned and started to kick out the rear passenger window. He was repeatedly told to stop. He became very violent and broke the rear window out of the window seal and frame,” according to the police report.

When three officers attempted to remove Baumgartner from the rear of the vehicle to secure his feet, he kicked two of the officers, the police report says. Baumgartner’s feet were then secured with a restraint belt, police said.

Baumgartner was processed at the Northern Regional Police Station, then transported to Allegheny County Jail, the report states.