Police Seeking Man, Woman Impersonating Cops in South Philly
The Philadelphia Police Department is on the lookout for two, possibly more, individuals who robbed one person and attempted to rob another while impersonating Philadelphia Police officers in South Philadelphia in the early morning hours on Sunday.
In the first incident, a 23-year-old woman was walking home at 4:30 a.m. when a man and a woman in a silver Nissan pulled up to her near Fourth and Jackson streets. Both persons got out of the car, and the man flashed a badge and said he was a police officer. The man then told the complainant to come to him and that she would be arrested if she resisted. The woman ran away instead, and the “police” car headed north on 5th Street while the woman who was stopped called police to report a disturbance.
The second incident took place before 6:20 a.m. in the 1600 block of East Passyunk Avenue. The victim, a 21-year-old man, called the police to report a robbery in progress after a grey or silver four-door compact car stopped beside him suddenly. The driver, a man, got out of the car flashing a badge. He identified himself as “police” and told the victim he matched the description of a man selling drugs. He then asked the victim for ID, and the man handed the “officer” his wallet. The “officer” then went through the wallet, removed his ID card and medical card, and handed the cards to a woman still in the car. The man then frisked the victim and looked inside his backpack. When the woman said his cards matched, the man gave the victim back his wallet, got back into the car, and sped off up Passyunk Avenue. When the victim checked his wallet, he noted that all the money he had in it ($14) was missing and called police.
The first complainant described the suspects as a white male in his 30s, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, clean-shaven with a bald head and wearing a grey windbreaker, and a white female between 25 and 35 years old, also about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with black hair and a stocky build; she was wearing glasses, black tights, a tank top and a cardigan. The complainant described the car as a silver 4-door Nissan with a light-colored interior, possibly a 2007 or 2008 model.
The second complaint described the suspects as a white male in his 40s, about 5 feet, 10 or 11 inches tall, wearing a long sleeve shirt and dark pants, and a white female who weighed at least 200 pounds and wore a dark sweatshirt. The male had a mustache and a black or brown wallet with badge and was smoking a cigarette.
The Philadelphia Police advise citizens to ask to see the photo ID and badge of anyone who stops them claiming to be a plainclothes officer. Citizens may also call 911 and ask for a marked patrol car if they suspect illicit activity on the part of the person making the claim.
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