Philadelphia

Driver Crashes Into Officer Responding to Domestic Dispute: Police

Officer fires shot at the van as the man drove off.

Police are searching for a man who they say drove into an officer with his van in the Kingsessing section of Philadelphia Wednesday night.

Police responded to a report of a domestic dispute on 56th Street and Whitby Avenue around 6:30 p.m. When they arrived they say they saw a man try to drag a woman out of a green Dodge van. Both of them then went inside the vehicle and the man hit reverse, officials said.

“By that time the male had entered the van and proceeded at a high rate of speed in reverse, striking one of the officers and dragging the officer several feet,” Commanding Officer Captain Sekou Kinebrew said.

The officer who was struck managed to recover and fired one shot at the van as the man drove off. The van then sideswiped another car and sent it crashing into a fence. Children at the nearby Multicultural Learning Center heard the commotion.

“It was a big crash because all the upstairs kids came running down and said, ‘Oh my Goodness! There’s something outside!’ So we all opened the door and looked out,” Calicia Bryan, the owner of the Multicultural Learning Center, said.

The driver of the van continued down the road while the lone driver inside the car that was struck was shaken up.

“A little delirious,” Bryan said. “He said he had just bought the car. I think he was delivering pizza because he had a Pete’s Pizza sign on top of his car.”

Police eventually found the van abandoned at a shopping center on Island Avenue and Lindbergh Boulevard. They continue to search for the man and woman. Investigators have not released a detailed description of them but say they are both in their 20s.

The officer who was struck and the driver who was sideswiped were not seriously injured.

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