My paternal grandfather, Bart Petrini, Sr., was sheriff of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. He was also mayor of his town, and worked on John F. Kennedy's campaign. So his name and photograph frequently appeared in the news. But this story is about his job as sheriff.
Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, was usually a sleepy place, but I have read several newspaper stories about how my grandfather re-arrested a seriously dangerous criminal who more than once "flew the coop" from police custody.
I had been told as a child that the escaped convict was a bank robber. I have since discovered that he was actually a notorious murderer and rapist; my parents must have wanted to spare my sisters and I the more difficult truth. His name was David Spangenberg. He was wanted in several U.S. states as well as in Canada, and was well known to police departments not only for his crimes, but for his penchant for escaping from police.
In 1956, Spangenberg had been convicted in Pennsylvania and sentenced to a facility for the criminally insane. Two deputies from my grandfather's department were transporting him from the prison to the facility, but Spangenberg tricked them and escaped into the woods. For the next three years, he traveled across the country and into Canada, committing more crimes. In Canada, that included murdering a woman and attacking a Canadian Mounted Police officer, resulting in the escaped convict being shot in the hip. Despite his injury, he'd managed to flee Canada and cross the border into Washington.
Traveling to the East Coast by plane afterward, he was met in the Pittsburgh airport in the early morning hours by my grandfather, who re-arrested him on the spot. The convict was loaded onto a stretcher, complaining the whole time about being chased by Communists. My grandfather rode along as Spangenberg was transported to the hospital, and finally, to the the Fairview State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
My grandfather the sheriff, center, keeps a close eye on murderer, rapist, and frequent escapee David Spangenberg after re-arresting the escaped convict, who flew the coop
No comments:
Post a Comment