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From Mirror staff reports
A city man is facing multiple traffic violations after leading police on a chase because he didn't want to be caught driving without a license, according to court documents.
James Joseph Dubanik, 19, was arraigned Friday by Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones on a single felony count of fleeing police, single misdemeanor counts of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance and DUI, as well as single summary counts of driving without a license, disregarding traffic lanes, signaling improperly, careless driving, reckless driving and 12 summary counts duties at stop signs.
Unable to post $100,000 bail, he was remanded to the Blair County Prison.
Officers were patrolling along the 1200 block of Fourth Avenue about 11:10 p.m. Thursday when they observed a blue Chevrolet sedan, driven by Dubanik, stop at an intersection despite not having a stop sign, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Once Dubanik proceeded, officers began following him and watched as he traveled on the wrong side of the road while accelerating in speed. Officers then activated their emergency lights and sirens to conduct a traffic stop, but Dubanik did not stop and ran a stop sign, court documents state.
During the pursuit, Dubanik ran through multiple stop signs, failed to signal and, at one point, lost control of the vehicle and drove up onto the sidewalk near the intersection of Ninth Street and Third Avenue before driving back onto the road and continuing east, court documents state.
When Dubanik momentarily stopped the vehicle, a juvenile female passenger exited through the front passenger door. Dubanik then accelerated away while the passenger was still exiting the vehicle, almost running over her legs and causing her to fall and strike the pavement. Officers lost track of Dubanik but, in reviewing dash camera footage, discovered he had done a U-turn in a parking lot and proceeded south, court documents state.
The passenger told officers that Dubanik had picked her up to get food and they had been on their way back to her residence when the pursuit began. Officers also spoke with the passenger's mother, who said Dubanik had told her he ran from police because he didn't have a driver's license. She said Dubanik had parked the vehicle and continued on foot, the report states.
When officers located Dubanik, he admitted to fleeing due to not having a license. Officers then searched him and found a small amount of marijuana. Dubanik said he had smoked marijuana earlier that day and officers reported he had glassy, bloodshot eyes. Dubanik refused a chemical blood test, court documents state.
Dubanik is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in front of Jones on Oct. 16.