Woodland Hills QB Randall in trouble again
By Margaret Harding and Adam Brandolph
His football coach, his attorney and Woodland Hills High School officials avoided questions on Monday about their star quarterback
accused of leading police on a chase with a stolen car.
Pittsburgh police arrested Harry Randall, 18, of Swissvale,
whose armed robbery charge from less than a year ago remains unadjudicated since Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani moved the case to juvenile court with a warning that it would be Randall's “last chance†to stay out of prison.
Mariani, on vacation, could not be reached for comment about Sunday's arrest.
Randall's attorney Kaitlin Euler, who successfully argued on his behalf when police arrested him in August in the robbery of a pizza delivery man, did not return calls.
A sought-after talent on the football field, Randall was offered scholarships to attend West Virginia University, Temple University and Georgia Tech, his coach George Novak told the Tribune-Review in December.
“Harry hasn't been an angel, but he has the opportunity to do something with his life,†said Novak, who did not return calls on Monday.
Accused of stealing a neighbor's car, Randall was jailed on charges of receiving stolen property, fleeing police, reckless driving, traffic violations and other crimes.
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said he had just learned of the second arrest.
Zappala said he disagreed with Mariani's decision to move the armed robbery case to juvenile court, but didn't appeal because he had no basis to do so. The decision, Zappala said, “is up to the sound discretion of the court.â€
Police charged Randall and another man with robbing the delivery man at gunpoint in March, about two months before Randall's 18th birthday.
Randall is in the Allegheny County Jail under $10,000 bond while he awaits a Feb. 20 preliminary hearing on Sunday's charges.
Officers said in a complaint that they spotted a silver sedan about 1:30 a.m. at North Lang and Frankstown avenues in Homewood and began following it because their check of the license plate revealed the car was stolen from Swissvale.
Police said the driver slowed but then sped away when they turned on the cruiser's emergency lights and sirens.
Officers pursued the car at speeds reaching 75 mph on East Liberty Boulevard but lost sight of it at North Highland Avenue and Callowhill Street.
Police spotted the empty and running car on North Euclid Avenue, where it had hit several parked vehicles, and a K-9 officer and his partner tracked down a juvenile who said he jumped out of the car. The teen had a cut forehead and broken wrist, police said.
Officers saw Randall walk out of woods, covered in snow, at North Highland and Elgin Street and identified him as a the driver, the complaint said. Police searched him and reportedly found a small amount of marijuana in a pill bottle.
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