Assault, Drugs Charges Dropped in Baldwin Twp. Road Rage Case

ROAD RAGE UPDATE: Victims Did Not Want to Participate in Prosecution

Amanda Marie Petrelli, whom Baldwin Township police say punched two other women in the face and ran her vehicle into a pedestrian in a November road-rage incident, will not face charges for those allegations, district Magistrate David J. Barton decided on Tuesday.

Barton withdrew Petrelli's charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, while her driving under the influence of alcohol charge was waived for Allegheny County Court, where she's scheduled to be formally arraigned on Feb. 6. (UPDATE: Petrelli will face her DUI charge at a pretrial conference at the county courthouse on March 1.)

According to Baldwin Township police Chief Terrence P. O'Brien, Petrelli, 29, of Tennessee Avenue in Dormont Borough, was involved in a traffic accident on Nov. 13 with another vehicle containing two other women at Baldwin's intersection of Dewalt and Newport drives.

A township resident who witnessed the accident from his porch on Newport—he is the same man who was eventually struck by Petrelli's vehicle—said that Petrelli punched the two other women while all three were standing outside of the two vehicles involved in the crash, O'Brien reported.

When police arrived, Petrelli had gotten back into her vehicle, and they observed the witness yelling at Petrelli to stop driving. At that point, O'Brien said, Petrelli drove straight into the witness, knocking him onto her vehicle's hood.

A Baldwin police officer then commanded Petrelli to stop, but she continued driving away until the officer drew his gun and pointed it at her.

O'Brien said that, when Petrelli exited her vehicle again, the officer smelled alcohol coming from her breath and observed her as having watery and bloodshot eyes. He also found marijuana her vehicle.

Read through other Baldwin Township police items here.

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