City of Pittsburgh employee accused of using wasp spray during road rage incident

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh city employee is off the job and charged with assault after an alleged road rage incident on the Panther Hollow Bridge.

“He’s just defending himself, like ‘why are these people attacking me? I’m a city employee doing my job,’” defense attorney Phil DiLucente told Channel 11.

DiLucente says that’s what was going through Pittsburgh Public Works employee, Paul Grguras’ mind, as he allegedly sprayed wasp spray in another driver’s face.

Police say it happened last week when Grguras was driving a backhoe over the Panther Hollow Bridge.

Investigators say the driver of a car behind Grguras beeped his horn because Grguras was swerving. Police say Grguras then stopped the backhoe and began arguing with the other driver.

That’s when Grguras allegedly broke the victim’s side mirror and sprayed him in the face with wasp spray.

However, DiLucente told Channel 11, his client is the victim.

“He gets out, and before you know it, they roll up the window, almost pinning his hands, and pull the car back up. That’s when his body hits the side mirror

It didn’t end there — police say Grguras began yelling racial slurs at the victim’s two children and threatened to beat them up.

“I think this was something that was just said, if said at all, out of anger… but not something that was derogatory toward a certain race or ethnicity,” DiLucente added.

That’s when another public works employee who was passing by, stopped and de-escalated the situation.

As for Grguras, his future with public works is unclear, as a city spokesperson told Channel 11, that he’s going through their disciplinary process, and have since pulled him from work.

The spokesperson added that the City apologizes to the family who interacted with this worker — and they do not condone his behavior.

“There are lots of allegations. It’s one-sided in this criminal complaint, but I think at the end of the day, everything is going to get worked,” DiLucente added.

Investigators say the victim’s children recorded the incident.

Grguras lost his job with the city in 2007 after being accused of not disclosing a previous criminal record on a background check. He sued the city and got his job back in 2010.

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