Police: Hit-run driver who killed off-duty cop was drunk
Police today said an Oxford Circle man was driving drunk when he fatally hit an off-duty Philadelphia police officer as the officer rode his motorcycle in Northeast Philly yesterday afternoon.
Police today said an Oxford Circle man was driving drunk when he fatally hit an off-duty Philadelphia police officer as the officer rode his motorcycle in Northeast Philly yesterday afternoon.
Louis John Vogwill, 59, of Loretto Avenue near Benner Street, now is charged with involuntary manslaughter, homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, DUI and related offenses.
Officer Lamar Poole, Sr., 42, an 18-year veteran assigned to the 12th District in Southwest Philly, was driving his Honda motorcycle west on Devereaux Street, crossing Roosevelt Boulevard, at about 4:10 p.m. yesterday when Vogwill turned left onto the boulevard in front of Poole, police said. Poole then smashed into the side of Vogwill's 1999 Toyota Corolla, police said. Vogwill stopped briefly - but then hopped back in his car and sped away, according to Capt. John Wilczynski of the Accident Investigation Division. An alert tow-truck driver followed Vogwill, and police credit his quick thinking with helping them collar Vogwill at Harbison Avenue and the boulevard, police said.
Poole, a married father, was a high-school basketball star, playing for Edison High School in the early 1990s.
Check out coverage of the accident in today's Daily News.