Former Mt. Pleasant, South Greensburg cop accused of oppression, retaliation
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Police say a former Mt. Pleasant police patrolman conducted an illegal traffic stop to berate an ex-coworker who allegedly told his bosses that he drank alcohol before reporting to work.
According to court documents, Trevor J. Ely, 29, of Greensburg, who also worked then as a part-time patrolman in South Greensburg, was suspended from his job in Mt. Pleasant after the intern, identified as Susan Higgins, told Ely’s superiors there that “one evening in June, Ely reported to work with alcohol on his breath.”
“Ely administered a (breathalyzer test) to himself showing Higgins the result, which confirmed he had been consuming alcohol,” Trooper James McKenzie wrote in court documents.
Within a month, after Ely was suspended from his Mt. Pleasant job, McKenzie said in court documents that Ely was in full uniform patrolling in an unmarked patrol car in South Greensburg about 2:10 a.m. July 23 and pulled over a car along South Main Street near Huff Avenue in which Higgins was a passenger.
“Once stopped, Ely parked in a manner blocking this vehicle from further movement. Ely berated Higgins with vulgar and profane language before telling both females to kill themselves,” McKenzie wrote in court documents.
In a recent interview, McKenzie said Ely denied he pulled over the vehicle in which Higgins was a passenger, but acknowledged that he had pulled next to the car after it stopped.
McKenzie said Ely told him that he had “snapped on Higgins because she had told on him for drinking on duty in Mt. Pleasant P.D. … and then drove away.”
Mt. Pleasant police Chief George Grippo declined comment, but confirmed that Ely, who was hired in February, is no longer employed by the borough.
South Greensburg police Chief Scott Fanchalsky was not available for comment. South Greensburg Mayor Kevin Fajt said Ely no longer works for that police department either.
Ely could not be reached for comment. An attorney for him was not listed in court documents.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled Oct. 8 before Hempfield District Judge Anthony Bompiani.