By Sean Carlin & Morgan Zalot
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — After an agonizing week for the Philadelphia Police Department, a cop narrowly escaped serious injury Tuesday night when he was dragged nearly a block by a driver the officer had pulled over.
Cops said the 26-year-old officer, of the 35th District, based at Broad Street and Champlost Avenue, pulled over a man in a Ford F-150 pickup on Olney Avenue near 3rd Street shortly before 8 p.m.
The man provided the officer with his license and registration, then began acting suspiciously and reaching under the seat, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. Officers asked the driver to get out but he refused, then sped off as one cop tried to open the driver’s-side door, dragging the officer, Small said. “When I got on the scene, the officer was still lying on the street,” Small said. “His pants were torn.”
The officer suffered a broken leg and cuts and bruises all over his body.
Small said police lost sight of the driver after he fled north on Rising Sun Avenue. They later found the truck unoccupied. Although police are withholding the suspect’s name, Small said it is “only a matter of time before he’s caught” since cops have his license and registration.
He is described as a 27-year-old man with tattoos on his arms, shoulders and neck. He is 6 feet 2 and 170 pounds and was wearing a white tank top and dark cargo shorts. His last known address was in Norristown.
The incident comes on the heels of two officers’ deaths.
Highway Patrolman Brian Lorenzo was killed in a crash on I-95 caused by a drunk driver on July 8. Officer Marc Brady was killed late Sunday when a man who was dating the cop’s ex-girlfriend mowed the officer down with his car in East Mount Airy, police said.
Copyright 2012 Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC