Police officer stabbed in East Germantown

A 14th Police District sergeant responding to a domestic call in East Germantown yesterday was seriously wounded when a mentally disturbed man went after her with a knife, police said.

Sgt. Wanda Newsome was stabbed in the left shoulder around 1:30 p.m. after arriving at a house on the 1000 block of East Rittenhouse Street, said Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman.

The woman who lives there had called police to request that they hospitalize her mentally unstable son, Vanore said.

The son, who is in his 30s, was naked when police got to the house, and officers tried talking to him to calm him down, Vanore said.

The man grabbed a 6-inch knife from the kitchen, and officers urged him to drop it, but he refused and became agitated, Vanore said.

Newsome fired a Taser at the man, Vanore said, but the man lunged and stabbed her.

Another officer shot the man in a finger, and officers subdued him.

Newsome was in good condition last night at Albert Einstein Medical Center, Vanore said. The suspect, whose name was not released, was also in good condition at Einstein. Police said he faced charges.

"It's very, very lucky that there were no serious injuries," Vanore said.

Although stabbings of police are relatively uncommon, he said, this was not the first time in recent months that city officers had faced down a knife-wielding man. On July 3 in front of City Hall, officers shot and killed a homeless man who, they said, lunged at them with a utility knife.