Commit crimes in poor neighborhoods

I'm working for my brother again so I only travel about 3 miles to work everyday and I get to see all three classes of people in a short drive; poor, middle and rich. I also associate with the three because I drink in a poor neighborhood, live in a middle class neighborhood, and work in a rich neighborhood. I guess you can say I'm a man of all the people.

I sit at the front desk, watching as three cop cars surround a minor traffic accident. I walk to the bank and make change for a 100 and discuss the situation with the bank tellers.

"That should keep the boys in blue busy for a while. This town hasn't seen this much action in some time. I wonder if they'll throw that guy up against his car," I said.

Looking out the window towards the scene of the accident. "You mean the 65 year old man?" The teller asked.

"Why not?" I said.

The other teller intervened, "I wouldn't be surprised if the accident makes the paper."

"Probably will."

And it probably will and this got me thinking. How can two towns, only 3 miles apart, be so different from eachother? There are police pursuits happening in my town. This is a story from my local paper and I went to school with this kid.

Times Online -A Leetsdale man with an extensive criminal record in Allegheny and Beaver counties faces new charges after local police said he led them on a car chase early Sunday from Aliquippa into Ambridge and then fled on foot through the borough while displaying a stolen handgun.

Christopher Hendon, 32, of 30 Ohio River Blvd. has been charged with reckless endangerment, reckless driving, drunken driving, driving while under license suspension, being a habitual offender for driving with a suspended license, carrying an unlicensed firearm, being a convicted felon not to possess a firearm, receiving stolen property, fleeing police and several traffic violations.

According to court documents, the incident started around 4 a.m. when Aliquippa police attempted to pull Hendon over for driving through a stop sign at Kiehl Street and Highland Avenue. Instead, Hendon fled onto Route 51 southbound at a high rate of speed and across the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge into Ambridge, disobeying traffic signals and stop signs as he raced ahead of police cruisers, police said.

Police reported Hendon drove the wrong way onto one-way Glenwood Avenue, finally wrecking into a curb and jumping out and running away. Officers said he was running so fast that he slipped out of his shoes.

As he fell at one point, Hendon pulled a loaded pistol out of his pocket, losing the magazine from the handgun, police said, and kept running with the gun in his hand. Later in the foot chase, Hendon tossed the gun onto the roof of a building in the 300 block of Duss Avenue, police said. Officers recovered the gun, which had been reported stolen from Kittanning, Armstrong County.

Police said that when they caught him, Hendon smelled of alcohol, had glassy, bloodshot eyes and slurred his speech. He refused to consent to a blood-alcohol test, police said.

When police ran Hendon’s record, they discovered that he has been accused at least five times of driving even though his license is suspended for previous DUIs and that he is not permitted to have a firearm.

Hendon already was awaiting trial on drug charges from Pittsburgh and Monaca and a harassment charge from Aliquippa.

Hendon was sentenced in September 2002 to serve two to four years in prison for the statutory rape of a 12-year-old Harmony Township girl in 1999. Also, he was sentenced to two to four years’ imprisonment in June 2001 in an October 2000 robbery in Rochester.

About 10 years ago, in February 2000, Hendon was acquitted by an Allegheny County jury of shooting 31-year-old Kevin North of Ambridge to death on a car ride between Pittsburgh and Ambridge on May 3, 1999, and dumping North’s body in the Oakland section of the city.

How can two towns - so close - be so far away? If you want to break the law move to my town, because we have a 20 plus strike policy. Don't even think about committing 21 crimes in this town, buddy, or we'll lock you up and throw away the key.