CLEARFIELD – A man caught driving a stolen vehicle who fought with police and gave them a false name waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
Kaseem Hill, 33, no address listed, is charged with felony receiving stolen property and misdemeanor counts of false identification to law enforcement and resisting arrest. His case now moves on the court of common pleas for further disposition. His bail was lowered Wednesday from $250,000 to $100,000.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were patrolling Interstate 80 near mile marker 120 when they were informed that a white van with New Jersey plates was driving erratically and at a high rate of speed. After the vehicle passed the trooper, he began to follow it off an exit ramp.
While exiting, the van slowed down, causing another vehicle to pass it, and then it stopped, partially blocking the ramp.
The trooper activated his lights and stopped behind it. He checked on the driver to see if he was okay, due to his irregular driving. The driver said the road was slippery and that was the reason for his driving erratically.
When asked for his license, the driver said he did not have one and did not have any form of identification. The officer asked him to write his name and date of birth along with which state he lived in, to further identify him. The driver gave a name and date of birth and said he lived in New Jersey. The information proved to be false. The registration plate on the van came up in the system as stolen from Rockaway Borough in New Jersey.
At this point the trooper called for back up. When another trooper appeared on the scene, the driver was asked to exit the vehicle because it was stolen. When they attempted to detain him, he resisted putting his hands behind his back. Physical force reportedly had to be applied to get both hands in handcuffs.
They gave him another chance to identify himself and he did not. Once he was in the patrol vehicle he was asked again for his name and he refused to give it. He was asked why he was driving a stolen vehicle and he said he “found it.”
At the police station, he continued to refuse to identify himself or answer any questions.
“The defendant was hostile while in custody and would not cooperate in providing a fingerprint attempt,” it says in the report.
Eventually police discovered his name as Kaseem Hill.
