TheeBadOne
Member
A South Allegheny School Board member was arrested Thursday night after the car she was driving struck and injured the school district's police chief who had just arrested her husband, authorities said.
Terry Dozzi of Laredo Street, Port Vue, was arrested at her home shortly after the incident, which occurred at 8 p.m. on Ninth Street outside the Glassport office of District Justice Edward Burnett.
South Allegheny School police Chief Kristopher I. Kircher was flown to UPMC Presbyterian hospital, Oakland, with head, neck, back and leg injuries, said Allegheny County Police detectives.
Constables Joseph Steffan and Daniel Negley arrived at the magistrate's office moments after the incident.
"He (Kircher) was lying on the street screaming, 'My leg, my leg!' He was in severe pain," Steffan said.
Kircher had arrested Dozzi's husband, Eugene L. Dozzi, 44, on charges of reckless endangerment, corruption of minors and furnishing cigarettes to minors in connection with a series of incidents at the high school and middle school, according to a criminal complaint.
Kircher, hired as a truant officer five years ago, was bringing Eugene Dozzi in for arraignment last night when he apparently was hit by the car driven by Terry Dozzi, who had just left a school board meeting.
Terry Dozzi is usually outspoken, but she was unusually quiet last night, some school board members said in telephone interviews.
"She's very loud about her opinion. When she thinks she's right, she lets you know she's right. If she believes in something, she goes full-force," said Thomas Dudek, a school director from Port Vue. "We have our difference of opinions."
Eugene Dozzi, a commercial painter, said he and his wife are political prisoners and the victims of a vendetta by her political foes. He said that Kircher only pretended that he was hit by her car.
Allegheny County Police Sgt. Christopher Kearns said Terry Dozzi was to be arraigned in night court, but the exact charges had not yet been determined.
"Understandably the main focus of the South Allegheny School District is on Chief Kircher," Superintendent Patrick A. Risha said in a statement. "The entire district is pulling for him for a quick and full recovery."
Burnett said he was standing on the street talking with Kircher when the officer was injured. Burnett said Terry Dozzi drove off after striking Kircher. Burnett, who was still being interviewed by county detectives, declined to discuss the incident in detail.
After paramedics took Kircher to the medical helicopter, Burnett arraigned Eugene Dozzi and ordered him jailed in lieu of $100,000 straight bond. He also ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before he can be released from jail.
Eugene Dozzi was arrested following a six-month investigation in which four students were interviewed by police, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Kircher to support the charges . The students told police that Dozzi provided them with cigarettes when they visited his home. The school district serves 1,850 students from Lincoln, Liberty, Port Vue and Glassport.
On Monday, Kircher arrested a Glassport couple on charges they provided vodka and cigarettes to three South Allegheny students as they skipped school and hung out on the couple's porch Oct. 10. Two other juveniles were involved in a separate incident Sept. 5, Kircher had said.
Kevin Scott Cadieu, 35, and his wife, Tricia, 33, face an Oct. 28 preliminary hearing on five counts each of corruption of minors and reckless endangerment, among other charges.
It was not clear whether the charges are related to those filed against Eugene Dozzi.
Eugene Dozzi also is accused of providing the students with information to engage in vandalism and other acts of violent behavior at the South Allegheny High School and Middle School.
Eugene Dozzi is accused of encouraging three students on April 23 to start a food fight at the school and to resist and assault police officers if any attempts were made to detain them, according to the affidavit.
Eugene Dozzi denied the charges and told reporters that various community leaders have been after him since his wife was elected to the school board two years ago. He and his wife have three children, a boy and a girl who are twins and in the ninth grade, and a sixth-grade son.
"This is ridiculous," Dozzi said. "I spoke up for the kids. I spoke up for the parents. I questioned everything that goes on in the district."
"They're dragging me and my wife to jail for nothing," he said.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/pittsburgh/s_161661.html
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What is it with school boards? I've seen great local coverage for city politics/elections/issues, but school boards don't seem to get much attention. I've seen much more axe grinding at the school board level than any other political area. Sometimes I'm amazed at how people conduct themselves as school board members at meetings (shouting, yelling, name calling). Sadly not many people pay attention to their school board and they should, if for no other reason then that's where one of the biggest slices of their tax dollars go.
Terry Dozzi of Laredo Street, Port Vue, was arrested at her home shortly after the incident, which occurred at 8 p.m. on Ninth Street outside the Glassport office of District Justice Edward Burnett.
South Allegheny School police Chief Kristopher I. Kircher was flown to UPMC Presbyterian hospital, Oakland, with head, neck, back and leg injuries, said Allegheny County Police detectives.
Constables Joseph Steffan and Daniel Negley arrived at the magistrate's office moments after the incident.
"He (Kircher) was lying on the street screaming, 'My leg, my leg!' He was in severe pain," Steffan said.
Kircher had arrested Dozzi's husband, Eugene L. Dozzi, 44, on charges of reckless endangerment, corruption of minors and furnishing cigarettes to minors in connection with a series of incidents at the high school and middle school, according to a criminal complaint.
Kircher, hired as a truant officer five years ago, was bringing Eugene Dozzi in for arraignment last night when he apparently was hit by the car driven by Terry Dozzi, who had just left a school board meeting.
Terry Dozzi is usually outspoken, but she was unusually quiet last night, some school board members said in telephone interviews.
"She's very loud about her opinion. When she thinks she's right, she lets you know she's right. If she believes in something, she goes full-force," said Thomas Dudek, a school director from Port Vue. "We have our difference of opinions."
Eugene Dozzi, a commercial painter, said he and his wife are political prisoners and the victims of a vendetta by her political foes. He said that Kircher only pretended that he was hit by her car.
Allegheny County Police Sgt. Christopher Kearns said Terry Dozzi was to be arraigned in night court, but the exact charges had not yet been determined.
"Understandably the main focus of the South Allegheny School District is on Chief Kircher," Superintendent Patrick A. Risha said in a statement. "The entire district is pulling for him for a quick and full recovery."
Burnett said he was standing on the street talking with Kircher when the officer was injured. Burnett said Terry Dozzi drove off after striking Kircher. Burnett, who was still being interviewed by county detectives, declined to discuss the incident in detail.
After paramedics took Kircher to the medical helicopter, Burnett arraigned Eugene Dozzi and ordered him jailed in lieu of $100,000 straight bond. He also ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before he can be released from jail.
Eugene Dozzi was arrested following a six-month investigation in which four students were interviewed by police, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Kircher to support the charges . The students told police that Dozzi provided them with cigarettes when they visited his home. The school district serves 1,850 students from Lincoln, Liberty, Port Vue and Glassport.
On Monday, Kircher arrested a Glassport couple on charges they provided vodka and cigarettes to three South Allegheny students as they skipped school and hung out on the couple's porch Oct. 10. Two other juveniles were involved in a separate incident Sept. 5, Kircher had said.
Kevin Scott Cadieu, 35, and his wife, Tricia, 33, face an Oct. 28 preliminary hearing on five counts each of corruption of minors and reckless endangerment, among other charges.
It was not clear whether the charges are related to those filed against Eugene Dozzi.
Eugene Dozzi also is accused of providing the students with information to engage in vandalism and other acts of violent behavior at the South Allegheny High School and Middle School.
Eugene Dozzi is accused of encouraging three students on April 23 to start a food fight at the school and to resist and assault police officers if any attempts were made to detain them, according to the affidavit.
Eugene Dozzi denied the charges and told reporters that various community leaders have been after him since his wife was elected to the school board two years ago. He and his wife have three children, a boy and a girl who are twins and in the ninth grade, and a sixth-grade son.
"This is ridiculous," Dozzi said. "I spoke up for the kids. I spoke up for the parents. I questioned everything that goes on in the district."
"They're dragging me and my wife to jail for nothing," he said.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/pittsburgh/s_161661.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is it with school boards? I've seen great local coverage for city politics/elections/issues, but school boards don't seem to get much attention. I've seen much more axe grinding at the school board level than any other political area. Sometimes I'm amazed at how people conduct themselves as school board members at meetings (shouting, yelling, name calling). Sadly not many people pay attention to their school board and they should, if for no other reason then that's where one of the biggest slices of their tax dollars go.
