During rush-hour traffic Friday at 8:40 a.m., a 37-year-old Audubon, N.J., man stopped his car on the Walt Whitman Bridge, got out and jumped. His death was not immediate and the Coast Guard fished him out of the water. Delaware River Port Authority Police took him to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he died shortly before 9:30 a.m., Delaware River Port Authority spokesman John Miller said.
Miller would not release the victim’s name "out of respect for the family," he said, adding he did not know if the incident happened in the east- or westbound lanes.
Days later on the bridge, a Delaware River Port Authority officer was injured when a car struck him at about 8:47 p.m. Monday near the toll plaza. The officer was helping a disabled motorist on the Philadelphia side when a vehicle traveling west struck him, Miller said.
The officer was treated and released from Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for neck and back pain, cuts and bruises. Police are looking for the offending car that Miller said was a blue four-door Buick with New Jersey license plate VPV 54Z.
To report information on the Buick, call the Delaware River Port Authority at 856-968-2253.
Attempted mugging becomes shooting
After a 45-year-old was gunned down for refusing to give two robbers what they wanted, he hopped a bus to a hospital but collapsed before reaching his destination.
The attempted mugging happened at 1:10 a.m. Friday on the 1400 block of Catharine Street, where two males approached the victim and announced a stick-up, Detective Joe Chiaro of South Detectives said. When the man refused, one offender fired about five shots into his upper torso.
The wounded man hailed a bus at Broad Street and Catharine and got off at Broad and Walnut streets, where police believe he planned to walk the two blocks to Jefferson Hospital but never made it, Chiaro said.
Shortly after exiting the bus, the victim collapsed and two bystanders called police. The man was admitted to Jefferson Hospital in critical condition with wounds to his back, right arm and left thigh.
The incident is still under investigation and police did not have a description of the assailants.
To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.
Gunfire hits chest, abdomen
After taking multiple gunshots to his chest and abdomen Sunday, a 25-year-old was left in extremely critical condition at HUP.
Police recovered numerous .380-caliber fired cartridges and blood evidence at the 1:20 p.m. scene on the 2200 block of McKean Street, Detective Joe Chiaro of South Detective Division said.
The victim may have known the shooter, who police said was arguing with him before gunfire erupted.
To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.
Jumped by group
A teen waited more than a week to report he had been attacked by a group of males on the 100 block of South Street.
The 18-year-old told investigators he was walking with friends at about 11 p.m. April 15 when the males jumped him and hit him with a bottle, causing him to lose consciousness, Detective Joe Chiaro of South Detectives said. While on the ground, the perpetrators swiped the teen’s wallet, containing an unknown amount of cash, and his cell phone, valued at $150.
A medic took the victim to Jefferson Hospital, where he needed eight staples to close his head wound.
Detectives don’t know why the youth waited until Monday to report the incident.
The attackers were described as being in their teens; police do not know what prompted the violence, Chiaro said.
To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.
Cut with bottle
A woman claimed she was attacked by another female while waiting for a bus Sunday on the 1900 block of Dickinson Street.
The perpetrator walked up to the 18-year-old and without saying a word, hit her over the head with a beer bottle, Detective Joe Chiaro of South Detectives said.
The teen went to Methodist Hospital after the 8:40 p.m. incident, where she needed sutures to seal the head wound.
The perpetrator was described as black, age 18 to 20, 5-foot-6, 120 pounds and wearing a green tank top and blue jeans.
To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.
No boom
A bomb scare on the 2600 block of Warnock Street April 18 turned out to be a hoax, police said.
At about 2:50 p.m., police were called to a home on the block where a white box contained a note stating when the front door opened, the device would explode, Officer Raul Malviero of the Police Public Affairs Unit said. A resident of the dwelling called police after finding the box. The police department’s Ordinance Disposal Unit responded and determined the box was empty, Malviero said.
The incident is still being investigated.
To report information, call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.
James sentenced for carjacking, kidnapping
The then-35-year-old pharmaceutical sales rep had just made a call on a doctor’s office on the 1400 block of Morris Street when her life changed forever Nov. 17, 2005.
Armed with a knife, the then-44-year-old Harold James approached the woman’s car on that block at about 2 p.m. as she sat talking on her cell phone, opened the unlocked driver-side door and shoved her over to the passenger seat, Assistant District Attorney Eileen Hurley told the Review.
Trying in vain to dial 911, the victim’s half-hour nightmare began as the former convicted felon and Megan’s Law violator "terrorized" the woman, attempting to rape her and threatening to rip her eyes out after she managed to break the 6- to 8-inch blade off the kitchen knife he wielded, Hurley said.
When he got to the 2100 block of Jackson Street, he stopped the car and stuck the keys in the console. With photos of the victim’s children on her dashboard, the offender asked if they were her offspring and told her if she cooperated she could go home to see them. Then, holding the woman at knifepoint, he began trying to remove her pants, the prosecutor said. Fighting for her life, she sustained a slice to her left leg before she was able to break the knife blade with her hands, sustaining cuts to both, the prosecutor said. James then grabbed the woman by her face and told her he would rip her eyes out, the prosecutor added.
The victim was finally able to escape after manually unlocking the passenger-side door. Running and screaming down the street with her pants around her ankles, someone in a car came to her rescue and drove her to the police station, Hurley said. Meanwhile, James abandoned the car where it had stopped on Jackson and made a run for it, only to be pursued by a second good Samaritan on that block who tried to chase him down but lost sight of him.
When James got to the 2200 block of Cantrell Street, he hid under a car, where a resident — the third good Samaritan in the case — saw him and alerted police, who swooped in.
"With the help of the civilians, we were able to get a quick arrest," Hurley said. "This is an example of the public coming to the rescue and getting a bad guy off the street."
April 18, James, of Blackwood, N.J., faced the consequences when he was sentenced to 32 to 64 years in prison for carjacking, robbery, kidnapping, possession of an instrument of crime and terroristic threats. March 10, after deliberating for nearly two days, the jury acquitted him of attempted rape, but found him guilty of the other charges, Hurley said.
The defendant had two prior convictions for aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping and, at the time of the South Philly carjacking, was a Megan’s Law violator in New Jersey.
"He was a very dangerous individual," the assistant district attorney said. "He had an extensive prior record. We are very happy with the verdict and sentence — it’s appropriate based upon his record and the facts of this case."
