PPD Investigating Cop’s Fatal Shooting of Dirt Biker

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The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating a cop-involved shooting of an unidentified armed man in North Philadelphia Thursday.

Police told reporters that the shooting occurred around 6:40 p.m. on the 4100 block of Whitaker Avenue in Feltonville when a 15th District officer saw the man driving a dirt bike recklessly. 

According to the PPD, the officer approached the man on the dirt bike, who started backing away before the officer got out of his vehicle and conducted a frisk of the man.

During the frisk, the officer found a handgun in the man’s waistband, according to police. The PPD says the man reached for his gun despite the officer repeatedly telling him not to do so. Police claim the officer then fired his own gun at the man and hit him at least once. He died several hours later in Temple University Hospital.

One particular aspect of the incident gives Police Commissioner Richard Ross and investigators “pause,” according to NBC10: surveillance footage from a nearby business shows the man running away as the officer shoots him.

“I did watch the video, and clearly one of the shots was taken while the male was running away,” Ross told the news organization. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Department protocol forbids officers from shooting fleeing suspects who “presents no immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to themselves or another person.”

Neither the suspect nor the officer has been identified. The officer has been placed on administrative leaving pending the ongoing investigation.

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