Suspect in Chester County robbery found atop silo on farm

A robbery suspect from Chester County was apprehended Sunday evening atop a silo at a Bern Township farm after leading police on a 6-mile vehicle chase from Reading, authorities said Monday.

Berks law enforcement officials received a bulletin about 2:40 p.m. from North Coventry Township police that a Phoenixville man who had committed a robbery earlier in the day was operating a black Audi sedan. Police saw the car in Reading and tried to stop it, but the driver sped off, heading west on Route 422 to Route 222 north.

According to Bern Township police:

The car became disabled at the exit ramp to Route 183. A Bern police officer found the car and police set up a perimeter, requesting assistance from other agencies, including fire departments to the public away from the area.

Police believed the suspect, identified by North Coventry police as Brandon Slider, 35, was hiding inside a structure on a farm at Route 183 and Van Reed Road, just north of Reading Regional Airport and across Route 183 from Penn State Health St. Joseph hospital.

They believed Slider may have been armed because he indicated during the robbery that he had a handgun. For that reason, police called for assistance from the Berks County Emergency Response

Team, or BCERT, which consists of police officers from various Berks departments who are trained in dealing with barricaded, potentially armed suspects.

BCERT members searched the farm and structures and eventually found Slider atop the silo. He was taken into custody without incident.

Slider, who was also wanted for violating his state parole, was being held Monday morning in Berks County Prison awaiting arraignment on charges in Berks related to the chase and in Chester for the robbery.

Information about the robbery was not immediately available.

In a Facebook post about the search and apprehension, Bern police thanked numerous departments from Berks and Lehigh counties that assisted with the search and apprehension, A K-9 team from Upper Macungie Township police in Lehigh County and the Lehigh County drone response team.

Greenfields Fire Company and fire police, West Reading Fire Department and fire police, Spring Township Fire Rescue Services fire police helped divert Route 183 traffic away from the area.

It was the second incident for which BCERT was called Sunday afternoon. Shortly after 2 p.m., BCERT was called for a barricaded suspect in a home in Exeter Township. Police said the 51-year-old man had called 9-1-1 and during his conversation with a dispatcher made threats against police.

After a few hours of negotiation failed to result in the suspect’s surrender, a BCERT team made entry and took the suspect into custody.