Man dead after struggle with Philadelphia police
Crime scene tape remains at the intersection of 10th and Poplar streets. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
A rampaging man who attacked a police officer this morning in North Philadelphia has died at the hospital.
Officers responded to 10th and Poplar streets just before 5 a.m. to a report of a person screaming and found the man jumping up and down on his red truck while screaming, police said. As an officer approached, the man leaped from his truck, beelined for the driver’s side of the police cruiser, reached in the car window, and grabbed the officer by her neck, police said.
A struggle ensued, and backup officers arrived. As officers tried to handcuff the man, one hit him with an asp while another fired a stun gun at him before they could subdue him, police said. Seeing that he was “unresponsive” once subdued, they believed he had overdosed on drugs and administered a dose of Naloxone, police said.
Paramedics took the man to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he died at 5:46 a.m. The cause of death remains unknown. Doctors determined the stun gun prongs hadn’t penetrated the man’s skin, police said.
The officer sustained minor injuries, police said.
Homicide and internal affairs detectives will investigate. Tipsters, call homicide at (215) 686-3334.
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