2 Police Officers, Man Injured In Pursuit In Hunting Park
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Two police officers and a 32-year-old man were injured Wednesday afternoon in Hunting Park.
The incident happened at about 1:50 p.m. on the 4100 block of N. 5th Street.
Juan Mario Lugo is home from the hospital tonight. Although he is not talking about the incident, his family members are and they believe this could have all ended very differently.
Lugo's mother, Susie Vega, immediately thought the worst.
"My son is dead. I couldn't get nobody on the phone. Couldn't call nobody," she said.
Lugo is suffering from a leg injury and cuts to his face. He's home now, just hours after witnesses say he was allegedly run down by police on his bicycle.
Police say they were responding to a burglary in progress at a house on the 4100 block of Marshall Street. And while on the way, they spotted a man matching the description of the suspect.
Eyewitness Roberto Aponte says, "I saw the guy trying to flee away from the cops, so I'm telling him to be careful they're coming after you. I saw them make a U-turn, they come up right behind him, they cut him off real short and nicely, they jumped the curb and hit him with the car and he flew up in the air and that was it."
Lugo got into a heated argument with his father. His father called police but never expected the call to end like this.
"You don't have to run over him with a car. Look at the damage to the car, look at the damage to the bike."
Lugo, who is on probation after a year in prison, didn't want to talk about the incident, but his older brother didn't mince words as he showed Eyewitness News the bike his brother was riding at the time.
"They could have came through the whole situation differently. They could have pursued it differently. He was on a pedal bike," Robert Lugo, Jr. said.
Both police officers were taken to the hospital and treated for their injuries. They were released Wednesday evening.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says the incident is under investigation by internal affairs:
"It's always difficult, but people always presume things without knowing all the facts. Our job is to find out the facts what took place, obviously you don't want to intentionally run anybody over with a bicycle, but if it's unintentional, if something else was going on at the time, we have to look at all those things."
Police say that no charges have been filed.
