An officer failed to help a man lying in the road minutes before he was killed by a hit-and-run driver, Philly police say
Police said the officer encountered the man before he was struck but left him in the street without offering any aid.
Philadelphia police are investigating a fatal hit-and-run that took place early Thursday morning in the Olney section of the city, minutes after an officer left the 48-year-old victim lying on the ground in a bike lane.
Police are treating the case as two separate matters — a search for the hit-and-run driver led by crash investigators, and an internal disciplinary probe into the officer’s conduct leading up to the crash.
First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford, at a news conference on Friday, criticized the officer for failing to help the man and leaving him in a vulnerable state on the roadway.
“[It’s] very troubling to see that there is an officer that responds to this location and fails to render any type of aid to the individual prior to that individual being struck by the vehicle, being run over by that vehicle, driven over by that vehicle and that’s troubling for us,” he said.
The officer’s name has not been released. He is assigned to the 35th District and has two years on the force, Stanford said. The department placed the officer on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, Stanford said.
Police have also not released the victim’s identity as they are trying to contact relatives.
At about 1:40 a.m., a man with an “unsteady gait” was seen walking down the 5500 block of Rising Sun Avenue, Stanford said.
Video shows the officer pull his police vehicle next to the man and engage with him. During that encounter, the man falls to the ground, lying in the bike lane and partially in the traffic lane, Stanford said.
The officer pulls his patrol car in front of the man, Stanford said, and gets out to speak with him. Then the officer leaves.
Minutes later, a car stops before reaching the man, Stanford said. But a second vehicle drives into the bike lane to go around the first car, running over the man and driving away. The victim was pronounced dead hours later at approximately 6:15 a.m.
Police are searching for a 2023 to 2026 green Kia Sportage X Line series with black-and-chrome rims.
Stanford said passersby pulled the 48-year-old man out of traffic and called police.
The officer who had first engaged with the victim and then left him in the road mere minutes before was the first officer to respond to the scene, Stanford said.
Stanford said the officer did not make a police report, waiting for medics to arrive. Stanford said the officer did not render aid during this time.
Stanford said the officer did not check whether the victim was impaired or having a medical condition, calling the officer’s behavior “very troubling, very disturbing, and to be quite blunt about it, extremely disappointing.”
“It goes against everything we stand for,” he said.
