A man who Point Park police accused of trespassing in West Penn Hall last November had half of his charges dropped during a preliminary hearing on March 4.
According to Point Park Police, 52-year-old Eric Blosser, was found unconscious in West Penn Hall on Nov. 13, 2024. He was found at a table inside the Center for Media Innovation (CMI) before being arrested and then taken to Mercy Hospital. A preliminary hearing for the case was originally scheduled for Dec. 16, 2024, but the case was delayed three times until March – the maximum allowed.
Point Park Police Sgt. Bill Wagner, who arrested Blosser, said the preliminary hearing was quick and the charges kept were only summary citations because the level of the crime did not warrant harsh punishment.
“[He] probably had some hard things in life that made [him] resort to drugs to try to deal with it,” Wagner said. “And our whole thing is, we want to do our job, but we want to have compassion doing it. Because once you lose compassion, that’s not a good thing.”
According to previous reporting, Point Park police said “pharmacy pills” were spilling out of Blosser’s pockets when he was found in the CMI. Wagner said the pills were white gabapentin, which he said is a controlled substance. Additionally, Wagner said Blosser had what he described as “a whole pharmacy” in his bag because of the number of pills present.
Wagner said all the pills were in proper containers and were in Blosser’s name, so no charge was necessary due to the pills being legal.
According to court records, three of Blosser’s charges were withdrawn as part of a guilty plea. Those charges are one count of defiant trespassing, one of two counts of disorderly conduct and one of two counts of public drunkenness. The charges kept are the second counts of disorderly conduct and public drunkenness, as well as criminal trespass.
Wagner said that Blosser was able to enter West Penn Hall and bypass the required ID scan to open the front doors and turnstiles by “piggybacking” off a student, which he said is the most common way for people to get into campus buildings without proper access.
While Blosser’s defiant trespassing charge was dismissed, Wagner explained that he was charged with it because he bypassed two layers of security, not because he has previously trespassed on campus before. According to Wagner, Point Park police never interacted with Blosser before this incident.
Despite that, this incident was enough to get Blosser a verbal warning to never step foot on Point Park property ever again.
“This is documented that he’s been charged for it,” Wagner said, “and he’s verbally told by the District Attorney’s office, ‘if you come on Point Park property again, you’re going to be arrested immediately.’”
With this verbal warning, Wagner said that if Blosser were to try to walk into any campus building or pull on a door handle on a campus building, he would get arrested no matter what due to the verbal warning.
According to court records, Blosser was released on his own recognizance, meaning that he did not have to pay bail. Wagner said that since this is Blosser’s first time trespassing on Point Park property, the punishment was light.
“The first time, our system gives them a slap on the hand,” Wagner said. “But if it happens again, then it’s more severe. They might do 30 days in jail.”
While this is Blosser’s first trespassing charge from Point Park police, court records show that he has been charged with criminal trespass out of Brentwood, a suburb near the Carrick neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on Oct. 26, 2021. He was given three years of probation for this charge.
