Relatives remember 33-year-old Nicholas Haniotakis as a doting father to his three children, a man who was so generous that as a child he made his mother drive him to freeway overpasses so he could distribute blankets to the men sleeping under them.

But the man with the "heart of gold" is difficult to reconcile with the one who police say tried to run over an officer and a state trooper early yesterday morning when they tried to pull him over, prompting them to shoot him multiple times. Mr. Haniotakis died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and extremities after crashing his vehicle into a pole at Sarah and 22nd streets on the South Side shortly after 2 a.m., according to the medical examiner.

According to a city police news release, he was shot after a lengthy chase through the South Side that began when a city police officer and a state trooper working together on a DUI roving patrol saw Mr. Haniotakis, driving an SUV with its lights out, traveling south in the wrong lane on 13th Street. When Mr. Haniotakis' vehicle reached East Carson Street, it stopped and then lurched forward, nearly broad-siding the unmarked police vehicle.

When the officers, who were both in full uniform, activated their siren and emergency lights, Mr. Haniotakis put his vehicle in reverse and backed down 13th Street at high speed and the police gave chase, pursuing him through numerous South Side streets until he crashed into a parked vehicle at Wharton and 22nd streets.

The officers approached the vehicle and ordered the driver to show his hands. But the driver instead put his vehicle in reverse and struck the unmarked police vehicle, nearly hitting one of the officers, then drove forward toward the other officer. Officers fired several shots into the vehicle but the driver pulled away again as officers fired additional shots, hitting Mr. Haniotakis multiple times.

The SUV, which had Ohio plates, traveled three blocks, crossing West Carson, before it crashed again. Mr. Haniotakis was pronounced dead at 2:07 a.m. at UPMC Mercy.

Yesterday's incident was hauntingly similar to one in July 2005. Mr. Haniotakis was charged with aggravated assault on police, fleeing and eluding police and traffic violations after he backed his vehicle into a Mount Oliver police officer, knocking him over, and then sped off.

He was chased by another officer on Arlington Avenue before crashing his car on Becks Run Road. After the crash, Mr. Haniotakis jumped out of the car and ran from police through a creek and into the woods.

He later pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and attempted wounding of an officer and was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in jail.

Diane Richard, a city police spokeswoman, said the officer involved yesterday has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation -- normal procedure following an incident when a police officer fires a gun.

Yesterday, grieving family members gathered at the home of Mr. Haniotakis' aunt on Pius Street, where Mr. Haniotakis lived until a few weeks ago. They acknowledged that he struggled with frequent run-ins with the law in the past decade, but recently he was doing better, they said.

He wanted to be an artist and was one of the first graduates of the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Recently he worked as a painter, detailing the facades of some of the storefronts along East Carson Street.

His mother, Diane Piso Zion, recalled in a phone interview that he was gregarious and outgoing, the type of person who would "help anyone in trouble."

He was close to his family, and on Saturday night, he had joined other family members to support a cousin in an amateur boxing match at the Royal Place on Route 88. He then went out with cousins for St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

Family members said he struggled with the loss of his father, Benjanim Haniotakis, who died in 1993. His uncle, John Dennis, who family members said was like a father to him, died four years ago. More recently, he was coping with the sudden death of a cousin in early December.

Relatives say it was these tragedies that pushed him to a life of crime, and from 1999 to 2006 he thickened his rap sheet with 57 counts of criminal charges ranging from ethnic intimidation to aggravated assault.

"I don't know what happened," Ms. Zion said. "It was the time, it was the neighborhood. He struggled every day."