A stop for gas ended that ended in a carjacking for a city cabdriver earlier this week ended in arrest for the accused thief.
Philadelphia Police announced the arrest of Albert Washington Friday morning.
Washington, 22, is accused of carjacking an unidentified 41-year-old All City Taxi driver who was stopping for gas at the Hess station at Broad and Bainbridge Streets just a short distance from Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday.
According to police, as the cabbie got out of his car, Washington pushed him away, jumped into the cab and drove off -- sideswiping a gas pump as he drove north on Broad Street.
Luckily the cabbie wasn’t hurt but the damage would be done to property at the end of the alleged carjacker’s nearly 7-mile drive across the city.
An officer on duty spotted a cab matching the description of the stolen vehicle running a stop sign north on 56th Street near Lebanon Avenue -- nearly striking the police cruiser.
As the officer gave chase, the stolen cab turned down a driveway on the 5400 block of Diamond Street in the Overbrook section of the city, according to Philadelphia Police.
The officer pursued the cab as it ran multiple traffic lights before crashing the cab into a parked SUV and a tree before coming to a rest against a fence along the snow-covered street along the 5600 block of Diamond Street.
Police say after the wreck, Anderson hopped out of the cab and ran off toward Malvern Avenue.
Police were able to identify the suspect as Washington and they arrest him Thursday at his home on the 5800 block of Malvern Avenue.
Washington faces carjacking, fleeing police and related counts.
