Friends and family are mourning a former Philadelphia Police detective who was killed after a Delaware man who was allegedly fleeing from police crashed into his vehicle.
Charles Permint Jr., a retired Philadelphia Police officer, was in the passenger seat as his wife 60-year-old Ludmilla Permint was driving a Kia Soul on Harbeson Road in Harbeson, Delaware Saturday around 11:50 a.m. A 23-year-old man as well as Permint's 3-year-old granddaughter were also inside the car at the time.
Suddenly their vehicle was struck by a 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe traveling westbound on Forest Road and approaching the intersection of Harbeson.
Police said 26-year-old Rashai Harmon of Lewes, Delaware was behind the wheel of the Tahoe. Harmon allegedly ignored a stop sign moments before the collision.
Harmon, who was wanted on several charges including violation of probation, criminal mischief and terroristic threatening, was fleeing from Delaware State Troopers after they tried to stop him moments earlier, according to investigators. The Troopers stopped pursuing him after Harmon started driving recklessly, police said.
After the crash, Harmon allegedly ran out of his vehicle and tried to flee the scene on foot but was quickly apprehended by responding state troopers, officials said.
Charles Permint Jr. was removed by EMS and taken to the Beebe Medical Center of Lewes where he was later pronounced dead. Ludmilla Permint and the 23-year-old man were treated for minor injuries and later released from the hospital. Permint's granddaughter was flown to the A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children where she was treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
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A 26-year-old woman who was in Harmon’s vehicle at the time was also treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Harmon was treated for minor injuries at the Beebe Medical Center. He was later released from the hospital and taken into police custody. He is charged with second-degree murder, vehicular assault, reckless endangerment, possession of a deadly weapon, DUI and other related offenses.
A Police Department spokeswoman told NBC10 Charles Permint Jr. joined the Philadelphia Police force in December of 1966 and was promoted to detective in 1971. He retired from law enforcement in 2001.
Ludmilla Permint told Delaware Online her husband often pursued fugitives during his career in law enforcement, making his death sadly ironic.
"He stopped this one last criminal from doing God knows what," Permint told Delaware Online. "And he did not suffer."
