Phila. officer hurt trying to question 2 in killing

A Philadelphia police officer was injured yesterday after he tried to question two men wanted in connection with a slaying earlier in the day in Montgomery County.

Richard Porter, 68, a widower and painting contractor, died in his one-story ranch house on the 400 block of Woodhill Road in Wayne, police said.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said a cleaning woman found Porter's body at 10:45 a.m. He was lying on his back on the living-room floor, Ferman said, with multiple wounds to the face and neck.

"There was a substantial amount of apparent blood on the walls and floor of the home," Ferman said. She declined to name the weapon, citing an ongoing investigation.

Police immediately began searching for Porter's silver 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe, which was missing from the driveway, and issued a regional bulletin for law-enforcement officers.

Around 2 p.m., a Philadelphia officer spotted the Tahoe on the 2700 block of Kensington Avenue, police said.

The officer, Christopher Brennan, 38, stopped the Tahoe to question the driver. As the officer stood next to the SUV, the driver gunned the engine and took off.

The officer held on and was dragged alongside until it crashed into a pickup truck at Kensington Avenue and Somerset Street, police said.

A passenger fled. The driver was arrested at the scene, and was being treated for head injuries at Temple University. Ferman declined to identify the driver and passenger, or say what role they might have played in the slaying.

The officer, a 12 1/2-year veteran of the department, was also at Temple, where he was reported in stable condition with injuries to his neck, back and left side, Ferman said. The crash also injured two women riding in the pickup truck, police said.

Heather Kelley, 34, who lives on the U-shaped street just off Croton Road in the Upper Merion Township neighborhood, said she left her home at 10 a.m. yesterday. When she returned at 11:30 a.m., the road was blocked off by police vehicles. She said she was surprised to see police in such a quiet community.

"It's a little scary," she said. "I'm glad the kids weren't home."

Neighbors described Porter, whom they called "Dickie," as pleasant but not outgoing.

"He didn't talk too much, but was always a friendly fellow," said Fabio Bevilacqua, 23, who lives two doors down from the Porter home in the neighborhood of one-story ranchers set amid tall pine trees.

Joseph Denczi, who said he has lived on the street for 19 years and had known Porter the whole time, thought Porter had lived there at least 30 years.

"Dickie was a good guy. He didn't deserve to go out this way," said Denczi, 57.

Denczi said that Porter was a painter, and that he had been dating a woman in the neighborhood. Police said they had heard that, too.

Porter, he said, loved to fish and was generous with his time.

"When I moved in here, he laid my floor for me in my kitchen" for free, Denczi said. "I bought him dinner."

Porter and his wife, MaryAnn, kept to themselves. Several years ago, they renovated the inside and outside of their rancher, a neighbor said.

Their hobby was raising pedigreed Alaskan malamutes and Siberian husky dogs, which did well in the show ring.

MaryAnn Porter died in 2005, leaving her husband alone with the dogs, neighbors said.

An official from the Montgomery County SPCA said that two Alaskan malamutes had been delivered to the shelter from Woodhill Road by police yesterday morning.

"They are safe," a spokeswoman said.

Police said there had been a robbery at the Porter house in 2007, but it was not clear whether it was connected to the slaying.