Veteran Bucks cop used police database to harass driver, police say

Cpl. Michael Pitcher has spent 12 years serving the citizens of lower Bucks County. Now, he’s accused of harassing one, and is facing felony charges for using a law enforcement database to glean a stranger’s personal information, police said.

Pitcher, 40, a senior officer in Morrisville, was arraigned last week on charges of unlawful use of a computer, making terroristic threats, and harassment, court records show. Investigators in nearby Lower Makefield Township said a resident received a threatening phone call from Pitcher in April, during which Pitcher berated the man, apparently because he had been driving too slowly in front of him.

“You better have cameras at your house, as I will be destroying your property, especially your Porsche,” Pitcher told the victim, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. The victim said he believed that the caller was “insinuating an intent to inflict physical harm.”

Pitcher tried to throw the victim off his trail with a call “spoofing” program that generates fake phone numbers, investigators said.

Borough Council President Debbie Smith said Monday that Pitcher has been on administrative leave since April, but declined to comment further.

Pitcher was released late Thursday on $5,000 unsecured bond, court records show. It was unclear whether he had retained a lawyer, and he did not return a request for comment Monday.

When questioned by detectives from the state Attorney General’s Office in June, Pitcher admitted to making the call, but denied threatening the driver, saying instead that he used the database with the intent of issuing the driver a traffic citation, the affidavit said. Pitcher characterized the conversation as a warning that the driver would “destroy their vehicle if they kept driving in such a manner.”

Police Chief George McClay said Pitcher has been on paid administrative leave since April 23, when McClay was first contacted by officers investigating the phone call.

“I was very surprised and disappointed at such a thing,” McClay said. “But he’s innocent until proven guilty, just like every other citizen.”

McClay said he recently began an internal-affairs probe, adding that he waited until the charges were filed so that he wouldn’t “jeopardize the criminal investigation.”

The chief declined to comment on whether Pitcher had ever been the subject of previous internal investigations.

Pitcher made headlines in 2016, when he was electrocuted during a heroin sting at a Doylestown train station. A year prior, he shot a driver who tried to run him down in a 7-Eleven parking lot.