Pittsburgh police: Bloomfield man hit woman in head with pumpkin during parking dispute

A man from Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood launched pumpkins at a grandmother who parked in front of his home to pick up her grandchild a few doors down, police said.

James Gazis, 41, is charged with aggravated assault and propulsion of missiles in connection with the Wednesday altercation.

A criminal complaint filed in the case said Gazis threw the pumpkins after he heard his wife screaming outside their Pearl Street home. He said his wife screamed that a woman who had parked in front of their house nearly hit her and their child, at which point he threw two pumpkins at the car and its driver.

Police said the woman reported she was picking up her grandchild and parked down the street from her son’s Pearl Street home. She told officers Gazis’s wife and young child crossed the street near her parked car, and they began to scream that she’d almost struck them and she should park elsewhere.

She said that’s when James Gazis came outside and threw the first pumpkin, which she heard hit the car, according to the complaint. She said she was then struck in the head by a second pumpkin that James Gazis allegedly threw through her driver’s side window.

The woman told police she wasn’t sure if she lost consciousness when she was struck with the pumpkin. Police noted that she was bleeding, and she told officers her head hurt, the complaint said. Her son told officers he scuffled with James Gazis after he threw the pumpkins and ultimately “threw him to the ground,” according to the complaint.

Paramedics bandaged Gazis’s toe before he was taken to Allegheny County Jail, police said.

A detective later reported the incident was caught on surveillance camera, and “it did not appear that (James Gazis’s wife) or her child were even in danger of being struck by (the woman’s) vehicle while crossing the street,” the complaint said.

James Gazis was released on nonmonetary bail early Thursday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month. Court records did not list a defense attorney.