S. HEIDELBERG TWP., Pa. - A man is facing charges after threatening staff at a restaurant in Berks County, then fleeing police, authorities say.
It started around 4 p.m. Saturday at Salute Ristorante Italiano in South Heidelberg Township, in the Sinking Spring Plaza along Route 422, township police said Monday.
Benny Carver, 51, a resident of the Wernersville Community Corrections Center, had gone into the kitchen of the restaurant and told the owner he did not return to the corrections center the night prior, and wanted to work that day, police said.
When the owner said he wasn't working and should leave, Carver picked up a large kitchen knife and began waving it around and pointing it at kitchen staff, and they ran, police said.
Carver also said he would kill police when they came, officials said.
Carver ran out the back door when police arrived, and rode off on a bicycle in a wooded area, police said.
Investigators used Western Berks Fire Department's drone to track him in real time, and found Carver hiding in thick brush near railroad tracks, police said.
He told officers to shoot him and lunged at an officer, who used a stun gun to take Carver into custody, police said.
He is facing five counts of terroristic threats, three counts of simple assault, and several other charges.
South Heidelberg police said this is the first time they used the drone to actively track a suspect's movements in real time.
