Jury selection is scheduled for today in Blair County court for a New Florence man charged with numerous offenses in multiple counties in March of last year.
29-year-old Eric Hageder’s alleged crime spree covered Indiana, Cambria, Blair, and Huntingdon counties before he was taken into custody in Blair County. There are three criminal cases filed against him. A fourth in Cambria County has already been adjudicated, with a guilty plea to criminal mischief. The remaining charges include eight counts of aggravated assault, seven counts of simple assault, six counts of recklessly endangering, two counts each of robbery and theft, and single counts of receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, and fleeing and eluding. In addition, Hageder is charged with 28 summary traffic violations.
Hageder is accused of forcing his girlfriend in to his car after an argument, crashing that car, and then robbing Krevetski’s convenience store in Armagh. Police say he then made his way to an ex-girlfriend’s in Cambria County and stole her car, driving it to Altoona where it broke down. He’s accused of sneaking up behind a man, cracking him over the head with a metal wrench and stealing his pickup truck, then leading police on a chase into Huntingdon County, finally turning around and driving at police while calling 911 and telling them he was going to play “demolition derby” with them. He was eventually stopped by a “rolling roadblock” on Interstate 99, where he crashed.
The case has been consolidated, so the Indiana County charges against Hageder will be tried in Blair County before Judge Timothy Sullivan. Jury selection is set to begin at 8 AM.
