Trial set for ex-cop who pulled gun on hospital guard

A former Philadelphia police officer will be tried on assault and related charges in a 2009 incident in which he allegedly balked at signing a hospital visitors log and then pulled a gun on a security guard who tried to stop him from entering the hospital.

John King, 54, was ordered today to stand trial on aggravated and simple assault, a weapons charge, recklessly endangering another person, trespass and witness intimidation.

Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge David C. Shuter dismissed just one of the charges against King: terroristic threats.

King, an officer for 14 years last assigned to the 12th District in Southwest Philadelphia, was criminally charged and then fired in March following an investigation by police Internal Affairs officers and a review of the case by the District Attorney's office.

The incident occurred Oct. 14, 2009 at Mercy Philadelphia Hospital in West Philadelphia. King, who was off duty at the time, went to meet his sister, a nurse, and allegedly got into a dispute with the security guard at the hospital's main desk.

When the guard tried to block him from entering the main hospital, King allegedly pushed the guard through an open doorway and then pulled his gun and pointed it at the unarmed guard's chest.