Police: Man wanted in homicide attempt

A Blair County man is wanted for attempted homicide for allegedly using his vehicle to attack and seriously injure a Tyrone man at a township shopping center, Logan Township police said.

Ralph S. Scarpelli, 40, who also has addresses in Duncansville and Dillsburg, York County, was supposed to surrender Wednesday, his attorney, Thomas M. Dickey, said. But Scarpelli hadn't done so by late Wednesday afternoon, Police Chief Ron Heller said.

"He had been cooperating with police and the investigation," Dickey said of Scarpelli, but declined to elaborate on the details of the charges.

The injured man, whose iden-

tity was not released by police, was in a Pittsburgh hospital with a fractured leg.

The incident occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant at the Pleasant Valley Shopping Center, police said.

Several hours after the incident, Scarpelli told township and Altoona police that he struck a man with his vehicle.

Scarpelli said he was wrong to have left the scene, arrest papers state.

A telephone caller reported seeing a driver strike and pin a man between two vehicles, then leave. The man, pinned between the vehicle, also telephoned the Blair County 911 center for help and reported his leg was shattered and bleeding.

A Logan police officer headed to Rosehill Drive, where he learned that the suspect had dropped off a vehicle at a residence and jumped into another vehicle, then left.

The injured man, a woman who lives on Rosehill Drive and Scarpelli all work at the same place, arrest papers state. The injured man also said Scarpelli had been harassing him by phone and asked him to come to the shopping center's parking lot "to take care of it."

The victim initially was taken to Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona Hospital Campus, then flown by medical helicopter to Pittsburgh.

Hospital staff told police that the injured man had multiple fractures of his right tibia and fibia. A large quantity of the flesh and muscle had been torn away from the bones. A sliver of metal, with vehicle paint, was removed from the man's right knee, court documents state.

In addition to the attempted homicide charge, Scarpelli is charged with aggravated assault, leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, terroristic threats, simple assault, harassment, recklessly endangering another person, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and traffic violations.