District Court: Pittsburgh Man Waives Hearing in DUI Car Fire Incident

Charges of drunk driving and careless driving were waived against a Pittsburgh man who police said mistakenly in his car after being stopped on suspicion of drunk driving.

officers were on patrol July 10 in the area of Route 65 and Walnut Street when they received a report that Michael J. Thompson's car was moving all over the road. Police who  tracked down the car near White Avenue said it was moving very slowly, swerving and nearly struck the curb while the driver attempted to pull over.

Police said Thompson, 56, smelledof alcohol and failed a field-sobriety test. Police said Thompson wanted to retrieve his house keys from his key chain, so an officer went to get the keys and noticed several rags were on fire in the car.

Police said it appeared Thompson had dropped a lit cigarette onto the rags. The officer removed the rags and extinguished the fire with a bottle of water. Thompson was taken for a blood-alcohol test.

Police reported a blood-alcohol level of 0.208 percent, above the state's legal 0.08 percent standard for intoxication.

The following people have been charged and are scheduled for preliminary hearings at in Leetsdale:

Waived

• George Trent III, 56, of Loxley, AL, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Sewickley Police reported that Trent was stopped at 1:30 a.m. Aug. 21 during a sobriety checkpoint on Route 65 in the borough. Police said Trent failed a field-sobriety test and submitted to a blood-alcohol test at . Police did not report the results. Trent's vehicle was among several stopped overnight Aug. 21 by the West Hills DUI Task Force.

Postponed

• Michael Bruno, 32, of Leetsdale, charged with aggravated assault, harassment, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. Sewickley Police responded shortly after 11 p.m. July 1 to the 900 block of Dickson Road in Sewickley for a report of a fight in a car. Police said Bruno broke someone's cell phone and choked the person until someone came outside and approached the vehicle. That prompted Bruno to run toward town, police said. Police said the victim was transported to Heritage Valley for treatment.

• Thomas Terpack, 38, of McKees Rocks, charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. Sewickley Police said Terpack was stopped at 1 a.m. Aug. 21 on Route 65 in Sewickley during a sobriety checkpoint. Police said Terpack failed a field-sobriety test and submitted to a blood-alcohol test. Police did not report the results. Trent's vehicle was among several stopped overnight Aug. 21 by the West Hills DUI Task Force.