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Town man drives truck into police station
Cheektowaga police arrested a town resident at gunpoint last Friday after he drove his pickup truck over the front lawn and into a wall of the Cheektowaga Police and Courts Building on Union Road.
Douglas J. Karalus, 41, of Lynnette Court was charged with reckless endangerment after police responded to a dispatcher's report of a man "driving his truck into the police station," shortly after 7 p.m.
According to one report, officers were processing two shoplifters in the Cheektowaga Police Department's Juvenile Office when they heard a loud bang.
When the officers exited the building to investigate, they heard Karalus squealing his vehicle's tires and observed the vehicle "fishtail" around the southeast corner of the building and continue north through the rear lot. Officers also heard Karalus "gunning" his engine as he approached them at an "increasingly high and reckless" rate of speed, as patrolmen standing near the court side of the building commanded Karalus to stop his vehicle. Karalus abruptly stopped his
pickup at the rear of the courthouse, and officers arrested Karalus without further incident.
Police reportedly had prior knowledge that Karalus may have possessed a gun and that Karalus had recently been arrested in Buffalo after police believe he attempted to hit a Buffalo police officer with his vehicle.
Police did not find a weapon in Karalus' truck, but did locate an alleged "crack" pipe on the front seat, as well as 55-gallon drums containing blacktop sealer, some of which spilled onto adjoining parking lots.
Police also determined that Karalus had driven his vehicle over a curb, creating several grooves in the front lawn, and struck and damaged a $100 spotlight. Karalus also drove his vehicle around a flag pole and then struck a brick wall in the rear of the building.
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