Thursday, July 18, 2013
YOUNGSTOWN — A man who was once arrested for causing a standoff at a fire scene was taken into custody about 8:10 p.m. Wednesday for allegedly threatening a police officer.
William Pietz, 36, of Imperial Street, was arrested in a driveway at 149 E. Delason Ave. after an officer tried to stop him for driving without a front license plate. Instead, he failed to stop and pulled into the driveway at such a high rate of speed that he blew a tire when he hit the curb.
Reports said Pietz pulled up next to a dog and told the officers he was a “five time felon” and would not comply with orders to get on the ground because he was on private property. He only obeyed when he was threatened with a Taser.
Officers found a bag of suspected marijuana on him and two marijuana plants growing in his yard, reports said. Pietz told the officer he had a large cache of weapons in his home and would use them to kill the officer. He was taken to the Mahoning County Jail on several charges, including failure to comply, intimidation of a public official and illegal cultivation of marijuana.
In June of 2007, Pietz was one of three men who caused a standoff by threatening firefighters who were at a vacant house fire on East Delason Avenue. He held police at bay for three hours until he was shot in the rump with a beanbag round. He surrendered a short time later. He was sentenced to a year in prison for the charge of obstructing official business for that incident.