A Philadelphia worker was attacked and stabbed Wednesday as he worked to clean up blight on a street in the city's Kensington section.
The stabbing happened just before 8 a.m. along Mutter Street between E. Tusculum and Clearfield, police said.
The 53-year-old city staffer from the CLIP Program was working to remove graffiti and pick up trash when he was approached by an apparent robber, police said.
The worker was stabbed once in the right side of his lower back, police said. The attacker fled the scene.
The victim got into his car and attempted to drive himself to the hospital, but had to pull over around N. 8th Street and E. Indiana Avenue. Paramedics met him there and rushed him to Temple University Hospital. He's listed in critical, but stable condition, police said.
Detectives are searching for surveillance video of the attack. They did not immediately have a description of the robber.
The CLIP Program — which stands for Community Life Improvement Program — sends crews to neighborhoods across the city to reduce blight, street trash, overgrown lots and graffiti.
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The victim's co-workers continued working in the neighborhood after the stabbing.