On March 15, 2009, 33-year-old Nicholas Haniotakis was shot and killed by police after a high-speed pursuit in Pittsburgh’s South Side. Officers on a joint DUI patrol and a state trooper first spotted his 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada driving the wrong way on 13th Street with a broken headlight around 1:32 a.m. When they activated emergency lights, Haniotakis fled, at one point reversing at high speed and later colliding with a parked car at Wharton and 22nd streets.

When officers approached his SUV on foot and ordered him to show his hands, he put the vehicle in reverse, narrowly missing officers and striking a police cruiser. Both officers then fired into the SUV as it drove off; the vehicle ultimately struck a utility pole. Haniotakis was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital and pronounced dead at 2:07 a.m. The officers were placed on administrative leave.

Haniotakis had prior confrontations with police, including a 2005 incident in which he struck a Mt. Oliver officer with a vehicle and led officers on a chase that resulted in charges and a jail sentence. His family filed a wrongful death suit against the state trooper, and the case later moved toward a proposed settlement.

Does anyone have additional details about the moments before the pursuit or eyewitness accounts from South Side that night?