Testimony: High speed chase and 7 pounds of pot

CHESTER » A 24-year-old Philadelphia man was held for court on assault and drug charges Monday for allegedly fleeing from police with more than 7 pounds of marijuana in his car in July.

Chester Patrolman Geoffrey Walls testified during a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Wilden Davis that Tamir Robertson took off in a white Dodge Hellcat after Walls attempted to pull him over July 9 shortly before 7 p.m.

Walls told Assistant District Attorney Megan Rafter that he attempted to pull Robertson over on the 400 block of East 14th Street due to an obscured license plate. The Hellcat stopped and a sergeant pulled in front of the Dodge in another vehicle, said Walls.

As Walls began to get out, he said Robertson sped off, cutting around the other officer’s vehicle and driving recklessly through the streets of Chester. Walls said the Hellcat was on and off the road at high rates of speed, striking parked vehicles, driving the wrong way down single-lane, one-way streets and putting residents in danger.

At one point, Walls said the Hellcat struck his police cruiser, disabling his siren. The Hellcat became disabled and trapped after making contact with another police vehicle, said Walls. Robertson then got out, but disregarded officers’ commands to put his hands behind his back and resisted arrest.

Walls told defense attorney Ronald Greenblatt that he remembered Robertson truthfully saying he had a license to carry a firearm.

Walls said Robertson did have a gun on him when he was arrested, and that officers used force to subdue him, but he did not recall seeing Robertson struck by any weapon. Walls said he was keeping his gun trained on a female passenger of the vehicle when Robertson was arrested and did not participate in placing him into custody.

Found in the vehicle were packaged pounds of suspected marijuana, Walls said, which were sent to the state police crime lab and did test positive for marijuana. Walls read a lab report indicating a total weight of 7.19 pounds.

Greenblatt reserved argument and Robertson was held on more than 30 counts, which include charges of aggravated assault, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, fleeing apprehension, resisting arrest, multiple counts of reckless endangerment and a litany of traffic violations.

Robertson remains free on 10% of $100,000 cash bail. He is scheduled for formal arraignment Jan. 25 at the County Courthouse in Media.