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Elizabeth Twp. Man Held on Drug, Assault Charges
By Staff Reports
The Tube City Almanac
October 23, 2021
Posted in: Crime and Police News
An Elizabeth Twp. man is in the Allegheny County Jail after McKeesport police said he assaulted a state narcotics agent while being arrested earlier this month.
Troy D. Cesaire, 41, faces a preliminary hearing Nov. 1 before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi. He is being held in lieu of $25,000 bond, court documents indicate.
The driver of the car in which Cesaire was riding was charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Police said he refused to submit to a blood test.
McKeesport police said that officers on patrol noticed a suspicious vehicle parked in the 900 block of Union Avenue on the morning of Oct. 7. Police said the area has had problems with drug trafficking in the past.
An agent from the state Attorney General’s Office was called to the scene and saw a man later identified as Cesaire enter the car, according to a police report. Police said Cesaire is known to the department.
As the car drove away toward Versailles Avenue, police followed and attempted to stop the vehicle for having an expired registration, according to a report. After stopping once, police said, the car then pulled away. Officers said they observed Cesaire putting something into his mouth and trying to swallow it.
The car finally stopped on Sixth Avenue, police said. During a search for weapons and contraband, police found a large quantity of cash in Cesaire’s pants pocket, and saw “multiple” knotted plastic bags of suspected crack cocaine in his mouth.
Police said an officer saw Cesaire trying to force himself to swallow the baggies by drinking water from a gallon container, but without success, and that Cesaire later attempted to chew and ingest the baggies.
As officers attempted to take Cesaire into custody, police allege that Cesaire punched the agent from the state Attorney General’s office, bloodying his nose. Officers used a taser in an attempt to subdue Cesaire, police said, without initial success.
Following the arrest, Cesaire was taken to UPMC McKeesport for swallowing the suspected cocaine, police said. The state narcotics agent was treated at the scene by McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service, according to a report.
Cesaire is charged by the state Attorney General’s Office with possession of controlled substances, possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and tampering with evidence.
The driver of the vehicle was identified by police as William P. Yanovich, 29, of Braddock. Police said they recovered a “stamp bag” of suspected heroin and fentanyl from his shoe, as well as two additional stamp bags hidden next to the driver’s seat.
McKeesport police charged Yanovich with possession of heroin, DUI, driving with expired registration and failing to stop for an emergency vehicle. Police allege that Yanovich appeared to be intoxicated but twice declined to submit to a blood test.
Yanovich is free pending a preliminary hearing before Riazzi on Dec. 6, court documents indicate.
Originally published October 23, 2021.
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