What to Know
- An 18th District Philadelphia police officer suffered bumps and bruises after being dragged for around half a mile during a traffic stop.
- Police say the driver who dragged the officer around five blocks was in a stolen car and was armed with a stolen gun.
- Police identified the suspect as 25-year-old Amir Dickerson.
A Philadelphia police officer still managed to help make an arrest after being dragged for half a mile while holding onto an armed driver’s gun as the stolen vehicle sped five blocks before crashing into two other cars, police said.
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WATCH HEREThe ordeal began around 9:15 p.m. Tuesday when two fully uniformed 18th District officers pulled over a Nissan Murano on 53rd Street and Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia.
Investigators said the Murano had an expired temporary tag and the brake lights were out. The officers told the driver, identified by police as 25-year-old Amir Dickerson, to shut off the engine and Dickerson complied. The officers then spotted a handgun inside the right pocket of Dickerson's sweatshirt, police said.
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SIGN UP As the officers questioned him about the gun, Dickerson allegedly reached for the weapon. One of the officers then reached for Dickerson's arm. Dickerson then turned the vehicle back on and sped off, dragging one of the officers with him, according to investigators.
Police said Dickerson drove at a high speed for around five blocks as the veteran officer held onto the man’s gun with his upper body inside the vehicle and his legs dangling out of the driver side door.
When Dickerson reached 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue he crashed into a vehicle that was stopped at a red light as well as a second vehicle that was parked and unattended. Dickerson then crashed into a large piece of concrete on the sidewalk before the SUV finally came to a rest.
"Just imagine, he was in that vehicle -- partially in the vehicle -- leaning on the driver, holding on for his life, holding onto the gun -- that turned out to be a stolen gun -- and his legs were out of the driver door from 53rd and Baltimore to 48th and Baltimore," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
Small noted that those blocks along Baltimore Avenue "are much longer than your normal city block."
The officer and other responding officers were able to apprehend the suspect. The officer suffered a laceration to his neck as well as bumps and bruises. Small said the officer was conscious, walking and talking while being treated at a nearby hospital.
"The officer is extremely lucky," Small said.
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The officer was out of the hospital Wednesday morning, police said.
Dickerson was not injured during the incident but was still taken to the hospital for an evaluation. He was charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping, resisting arrest, fleeing police, weapons charges and other related offenses and held on $250,000 bail. Online court records don't list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
The woman who was inside the vehicle that was struck by the SUV was not seriously injured, police said.
