County jail union president charged with impersonating officer, trespass
The president of the union representing the Allegheny County Jail’s corrections officers faces misdemeanor counts of trespassing and impersonating a public servant after an alleged series of events at a West Mifflin High School football game earlier this month.
Brian Englert, 48, also faces a summary citation for harassment, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.
Court records did not list an attorney for Mr. Englert as of Friday morning, and his employment status with the county was not immediately clear.
The series of events started Oct. 6 at the football game when Mr. Englert told a school safety officer he wanted to park in the stadium’s upper parking lot, according to the criminal complaint.
The safety officer said that lot was restricted for “preferred parking.’’ Mr. Englert told the officer his wife is a school board member and then, allegedly, produced a badge and said he was “law enforcement,” according to the complaint.
The safety officer told Mr. Englert he knew he was simply a county corrections officer but let him park in the restricted lot nonetheless, according to the complaint.
The evening’s next alleged incident occurred about 8 p.m. when Mr. Englert knocked on the door of a hospitality suite meant only for administrators, athletes and other authorized invitees.
According to the complaint, Mr. Englert “pushed his way into the room and exclaimed: ‘Where they at?’ He then allegedly took two bottles of water and said to several others gathered in the room — including the athletic director and two school board members — “You know where to find me and I have something waiting for you.”
Scott Stephenson, the athletic director, “has a documented history of contention with the Englerts,” according to the complaint. He told investigators that he and the other school board members all interpreted Mr. Englert’s parting words as a threat of violence.
The matter later spilled onto social media when a former school board member was “tagged into an argument on the West Mifflin Community Group’s private Facebook page.”
Among other things, according to the complaint, Mr. Englert allegedly wrote:
“lol I walked in the room with Scotty and Mark and Tony and nobody did squat buddy [laughing emojis],” and, “Loved seeing all my haters in the hospitality suite. Because I never showed by face. Thanks for the water! [laughing emojis]”
In a phone interview with West Mifflin police later, Mr. Englert denied flashing his badge in the stadium parking lot but that he had identified himself as law enforcement. Later, in an in-person interview, Mr. Englert denied identifying himself as law enforcement.
The investigator wrote in the complaint that he reminded Mr. Englert of their prior conversation, to which Mr. Englert responded, “I mean, I think I was following your line of questioning, but in reality, I am a sworn law enforcement officer.”
The complaint said that when the investigator pressed Mr. Englert, he reiterated that he’d just “gone along with” the officer’s questioning. He also conceded that his position at the jail did not give him arrest powers.
The correction officer’s son, who was in the car during the parking lot incident, told police he did not see his father flash his badge or hear him identify himself as law enforcement.
Mr. Englert also gave a different version regarding what happened in the hospitality suite, according to the complaint. He said he took his daughter to get a bottle of water when someone said to him, “Hey, it’s the king of social media.” Mr. Englert told the investigator that he replied with, “Yeah, I’m sitting in the bleachers.”
His daughter told police she did not witness a confrontation.
Shown screenshots of the Facebook comments he’d made, Mr. Englert disagreed with the investigator’s assessment that the comments were admissions to a confrontation, the complaint said.
Investigators also showed Mr. Englert photos of the “no trespassing” and “authorized personnel only” signs at the hospitality suite. According to the complaint, Mr. Englert pointed out that they were taken after the incident occurred and “anyone could have put them up.”