Bulletproof backpacks are being sold with the company behind it claiming they will keep students safe in the event of a school shooting. But do they actually work? The NBC10 Investigators take a look.

Police arrested a driver accused of dragging an officer several feet and then crashing into another vehicle, injuring two people inside, after a traffic stop in the Olney section of Philadelphia.

The ordeal began Tuesday evening when police pulled over the suspect, who was driving a Camaro, on West Fisher Avenue for alleged reckless driving. When a responding officer tried to get the driver’s paperwork, he sped away and dragged the officer ten feet, police said. 

“The driver, more than likely, fled the scene because he realized he had a suspended license and no insurance,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

The driver then crashed into an SUV before striking a parked car.

A man and a woman inside the SUV both suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The officer who was dragged was not seriously hurt.

Police say they captured the driver. They have not yet released his identity but say he will face several assault charges.

We are experiencing cooler temperatures this morning but temperatures are expected to heat up as we head into the afternoon. Plus our 10-day on 10.

A local girl from our area has become the country's Child Ambassador for Sickle Cell Disease. Kiarra Roseburgh, 9, attends Watson Comly School in the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia. She is taking a lead role in Sickle Cell Awareness Month in September.

A fired Philadelphia police officer charged with homicide for allegedly shooting a fleeing suspect in the back last year in Juniata was denied bail again at a hearing Wednesday.

Ryan Pownall is being held for the shooting death of David Jones last June along Whitaker Avenue. He is the first city officer in years to face a homicide charge for an on-duty shooting.

At Wednesday's hearing, the District Attorney's Office requested that Municipal Court Judge Patrick Dugan hand off the case to a common pleas judge now that a grand jury investigation is complete.

Pownall was officially charged on Sept. 4. A new hearing was set for early October.

In 2013, Dugan became embroiled in controversy for his handling of assault charges against a Philadelphia police lieutenant. Jonathan Josey was charged with punching a woman in the face during a parade in North Philadelphia. Josey was eventually fired and then-Mayor Michael Nutter apologized to the victim.

Still, Josey was acquitted by Dugan despite video evidence showing the punch. Critics of the acquittal then pointed to Dugan's marriage to a Philadelphia police officer. NBC10 reported at the time that the mortgage on his house was lent through the city Police and Fire Credit Union.

None of that was mentioned at Wednesday's hearing, was initially scheduled to be a preliminary hearing that did not materialize. Still, Jones' family and numerous police officers packed the courtroom. 

“The defense was trying to deflect from the real merits of the case. If you understood what happened that day .. you understand there was no cause for the shooting," Christopher Norris, a family friend of Jones, said after the hearing. "What he did was cold-blooded murder. It’s time Ryan Pownall and those like him be held accountable."

Pownall's attorney, Fortunato Perri Jr., argued that his client's actions were entirely appropriate.

"His training dictated that once you are justified to use your weapon ... you are justified in continuing that action," he said Wednesday.

When District Attorney Larry Krasner announced charges against Pownall earlier this month, he said the charges came after a yearlong investigation by a grand jury. Pownall is charged with criminal homicide, reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon of crime.

Pownall was fired from the police department following an internal review. He turned himself over to authorities on Tuesday.

At the time of the shooting, Pownall had been transporting three people to the department's Special Victim's Unit for an interview. Krasner said the officer pulled across traffic and into a parking lot after seeing Jones.

Pownall, who served 12 years on the force, patted down Jones and felt a gun in his waistband, police said.

A witness in back of Pownall's police vehicle watched Pownall pull his service weapon and warn Jones not to touch the gun, police said. The two men then briefly scuffled as Jones turned his back on Pownall and fled, investigators said.

Pownall attempted to fire his service firearm, but it jammed, Krasner said. Jones, who was also armed, threw away his gun and ran in the opposite direction of the weapon, according to authorities.

Surveillance video obtained by NBC10 appears to show Jones running away when he was shot.

"Video recovered from the scene shows that Jones was unarmed and he never turned toward Pownall or gestured in a threatening manner during his (running away)," Krasner said. "As Jones ran, unarmed, Pownall fired at least three shots toward Jones and traffic, hitting Jones twice in the back."

The entire deadly interaction lasted less than 30 seconds.

"Jones' death was not necessary to secure the apprehension of Jones," Krasner said.

It was the second time Pownall was involved in an on-duty shooting where a suspect was struck in the back.

Carnell Williams-Carney was paralyzed in 2010 after Pownall and a second officer fired shots at him as he fled, hitting him once in the back. A federal jury ruled in a civil lawsuit that Pownall and the other officer were justified in opening fire.

Last September, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the officer used poor judgment in the shooting of Jones.

"Jones was running away from Pownall with nothing in his hands," Ross said.

Pownall broke department policy by making a traffic stop with witnesses in his vehicle, Ross said. Pownall also failed to notify police radio of the traffic stop or call for backup.

Pownall's attorney said Jones didn't have a license for his gun.

Several activist groups held several demonstrations about the shooting, demanding answers in the case.

After a Black Lives Matter protest outside Pownall's home, the city police union president called the protesters a "pack of rabid animals."

"Today is the day that the family of David Jones has been waiting for," said Isaac Gardner, one of the most visible protesters after Jones' shooting. He added that they were happy with the charges, which they had not believed would happen.

The Fraternal Order of Police have called for the charges to be dropped and for Pownall to be reinstated on the force. They also called for Pownall to be allowed bail.

"FOP Lodge 5 and fellow officers stand in solidarity with Officer Pownall and his family," FOP President John McNesby said. "We promise a vigorous defense and expect Officer Pownall to be cleared of all charges and get his job back protecting the community."

A Philadelphia worker was attacked and stabbed Wednesday as he worked to clean up blight on a street in the city's Kensington section.

The stabbing happened just before 8 a.m. along Mutter Street between E. Tusculum and Clearfield, police said.

The 53-year-old city staffer from the CLIP Program was working to remove graffiti and pick up trash when he was approached by an apparent robber, police said.

The worker was stabbed once in the right side of his lower back, police said. The attacker fled the scene.

The victim got into his car and attempted to drive himself to the hospital, but had to pull over around N. 8th Street and E. Indiana Avenue. Paramedics met him there and rushed him to Temple University Hospital. He's listed in critical, but stable condition, police said.

Detectives are searching for surveillance video of the attack. They did not immediately have a description of the robber.

The CLIP Program — which stands for Community Life Improvement Program — sends crews to neighborhoods across the city to reduce blight, street trash, overgrown lots and graffiti.

The victim's co-workers continued working in the neighborhood after the stabbing.

A man kicked out of his mother's house last week has been charged with the killing of a young father in rural Chester County, just a short time after the initial dispute.

Hakeem Smith, 30, allegedly shot Sam Algarin, 31, once in the chest, left Algarin for dead on the side of a road in West Fallowfield Township, then stole the victim's car — all within hours of getting kicked out of his mother's house, authorities said.

The chance encounter between the two young men apparently occurred near a Starbucks in Oxford Borough. The coffee shop is a short distance from where Smith's mother lives. It is also where Algarin left his sports utility vehicle earlier in the evening before riding with his mother and two children to his kids' jiu jitsu class. 

After class and some pizza slices with his kids, Algarin's mother dropped him back off about 9:30 p.m. to pick up his SUV. That's when police believe Algarin and Smith ran into each other.

"It was the wrong place at the wrong time," Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said. "It's very sad."

"It's the first murder out there in 30 or 40 years," Hogan added.

Investigators tied Smith to the vehicle through surveillance video at a nearby gas station that allegedly shows the suspect getting gas. The SUV was found Sunday in Westtown, and a palm print connecting Smith to the vehicle was found, the Chester County district attorney's office said.

Smith was arrested Tuesday when police saw him walking along a street in West Chester Borough.

Smith has been previously convicted of aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm. Hogan's office described the incident between the suspect and his mother as a "domestic dispute ... resulting in the police being called and the defendant being removed from the residence."

"The defendant left the residence on foot that evening, carrying bags of his belongings," officials said in announcing his arrest.

Hogan said officers who responded to the initial dispute handled the situation properly.

"My understanding is there was a verbal altercation between the defendant and his mother. It's his mother's house. She ordered him to leave, which is her right," Hogan said. "Police were called. He agreed voluntarily to leave at that point. Police stayed to make sure he left."

He added that the officers' priority in responding to domestic disputes to separate the sides, "hopefully move the folks along."

"There weren't any red flags to say this guy's a danger, beyond the normal fact he's on parole," Hogan said.

Algarin, of Quarryville, worked his entire adult life — since he was 18 — at Jeff D'Ambrosio Chevrolet in Oxford Township since he was 18 years old, according to Matt Combs, a friend and service director at the dealership.

He was a great young man and well-liked by his co-workers, Combs said Saturday.

"It's a complete and utter shock," Combs said. "There has been no reason given behind it what so ever."

His co-workers offered a $4,500 reward for information resulting in an arrest, Combs told NBC10 over the weekend. 

It is unclear if any tips aided police in leading to Smith's arrest.

West Fallowfield police Chief Charles "Smoke" Wilmont thanked the county for help in making an arrest.

"West Fallowfield is a quiet and peaceful rural area, and we seldom see violence like this," Wilmont said. "However, the entire team came together to investigate and arrest the defendant. My thoughts and prayers go out to Sam Algarin's family."

Opera Philadelphia is promising great things in its new show, "Lucia di Lammermoor", <a href="https://www.operaphila.org/about/news-press/" target=_"blank">opening Sept 20</a> -- NBC 10 talks to two of the performers, Brenda Rae and Andrew Owens, about the production.

A homeless high school football player who was kicked off of his school's team because he did not have a permanent address has been offered a home, and school officials say he'll be put back on the team. 

Jamal Speaks, an 18-year-old running back for the Ballou High School Knights, is being recruited by Temple University.

But he recently was kicked off the D.C. high school's team, as News4 reported. 

D.C. Public Schools officials said the District of Columbia State Athletic Association determined that Speaks was eligible to play, but they said the District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCSAA) ruled that he was ineligible because they could not verify his address.

A local shelter for homeless youth, Covenant House Greater Washington, heard Speaks' story and offered him a home, they announced Wednesday. 

"After hearing that Jamal was experiencing homelessness and at-risk of losing the ability to pursue his dream of attending college and playing football, I knew that CHGW had to help," the organization's CEO, Dr. Madye Henson, said in a statement.

D.C. Public Schools said Wednesday that Speaks can now practice and play with his team.

"With the best interest of the student and the entire Ballou Knights football team in mind, we are working with DCSAA to resolve this matter as quickly as possible," the district said in a statement.

Speaks told News4 he's homeless and sleeps on friends' couches. He said his father is deceased and he doesn't have a relationship with his mother. 

Ward 8 Council Member Trayon White and local sports reporter Monet Anderson helped advocate for him. 

Fees for money transfers may not always seem like a lot, but one viewer was very upset when Western Union charged her extra for their own error. So she reached out to NBC10 Responds.

Police are searching for a teen who they say sexually assaulted a girl in a yard in the Somerton section of Philadelphia.

On Sept. 6 at 12 p.m., a 13-year-old girl was near the 13000 block of Cardella Place when she was approached from behind by an unidentified suspect. The suspect placed his hand over the girl’s mouth and said, “If you scream, I’ll kill you," according to investigators. 

The teen then led the girl to a fenced in yard and sexually assaulted her before fleeing in an unknown direction, police said.

The suspect is described as a 17-year-old male, standing 6-feet, weighing between 155 and 165 pounds with a slim build, crooked nose and short black hair. He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt with orange writing on the front and grey sweatpants.

If you have any information on the suspect’s whereabouts, please call 911 immediately. You can also submit a tip via phone by dialing 215-686-TIPS or texting the tip to PPD TIP or 773847.

A woman living in a tent at a Bucks County homeless camp died when her son cut down a tree that fell on her, Bristol Township police said.

The woman was lying face down in her tent Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. when her son began trying to cut down a dead tree and send it away from the camp, which is  in the wooded area between Bristol Pike and Dixon Avenue. 

Instead, the 50-foot-tall tree fell the opposite way, bouncing off a nearby tree on the way down and landing on his mother's tent.

The woman died due to blunt trauma to her chest. Police called the death accidental.

The woman has not been identified.

We require all new drivers to pass a road test, to ensure their safety physically.

But what about their safety online?

That’s what Willie Goldsboro, an employee at the Dover DMV in central Delaware, found himself wondering one day. As he congratulated students and handed them their licenses, he grew increasingly concerned with what he saw them doing.

“I mean, they’re standing right in front of me. You see them taking a picture holding up their license, and you know they’re posting straight to social media. That can hit a lot more people than you think.”

U.S. licenses have the driver’s full name, picture, DOB, license number, and address — personal information that, after being posted, could be stolen and used without the owner's permission.

Goldsboro says his father-in-law, a cop, deals with issues like identity theft and child abductions, so watching kids post this information was a red flag for him. He approached Laura Russum, another DMV employee who coordinates social media and communications, for help.

Originally, Russum said, they thought of creating a license prop. When that didn’t fly, they brainstormed ways to cover up identifying information on the new licenses. But that didn’t feel right, either.

Finally, on their fourth round of ideas, she knew. "I’m a photographer as well, and I know people like to take photos in front of fun backdrops. Why not one of those?"

She designed the signage and wording for the backdrop, plus shareable hashtags to go with it.

The resulting project was a hit.

On Monday, Delaware's Division of Motor Vehicles launched "Safe Selfie Zones" at its four locations – so new drivers can collect likes, without compromising privacy.

"We want you to share the love," reads a placard next to the brightly colored backdrop, "but before you snap that selfie… REMEMBER your license has personal information that should be protected."

In 2017, Delaware issued around 36,500 new licenses to minors and adults. 

"As far as we know,” Russum said, "this is the first initiative of its kind." They hope to present it in DelDOT’s Innovation Space this year and at a trade conference, where it could be used as a model by other government administrators.

Joseph Turow, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and an expert in media and digital privacy, said he applauds the Delaware DMV for the project. He sees it as a way to warn those who might not be aware of the implications of what they post.

“There’s some who might say that this generation cares less about privacy, but we have evidence to show that’s not the case,” said Turow. "They care, but in the moment, they just don’t think about it."

When asked if he’d like to see the Selfie Zone implemented in other places, Willie said, of course: "That means there’d be people being safe everywhere."

Maybe, he suggested, states could compete to see who had the best selfie wall. “The best thing we can do is take care of and look out for each other.”

For now, the Delaware wall features a background with the DMV logo, where people can take pictures to share on their personal social media accounts (in lieu of posting their actual license).

In blue, yellow, and orange, words at the top of each backdrop read: "Look who’s driving now!!"

Law enforcement officers across Pennsylvania are searching desperately for a gunman suspected of shooting and killing both his parents Tuesday -- after shooting at his ex-wife.

Bruce Rogal, 59, of Glenmore in Chester County, is still at large. Rogal is believed to be driving a 2002 silver Honda Odyssey minivan with the Pennsylvania license plate ENN 3549.

Rogal had been served with his final divorce order Tuesday, which awarded his home to his ex-wife, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said at a Tuesday night press conference.

After that, he drove to his ex-wife's home in West Bradford Township, where he shot at her as she changed oil in a car in her driveway. She was not hurt, but other houses nearby were hit.

He then went to his parents' senior living center in nearby East Goshen Township and shot and killed them, police said. William and Nancy Rogal were both in their late 80s, Hogan said.

The trail of slayings stunned suburban neighborhoods outside of Philadelphia and led to blockades and lockdowns that stretched for miles.

At the nursing home, the Bellingham Senior Living Center on East Boot Road, staff were locked down for hours as a swarm of police, ATF and ambulances responded to the facility, which was placed on lockdown for hours.

Mike Galczyk said his daughter, Cayley, is a server at Bellingham. "She’s texting us saying she’s hiding inside with her team," he said. "She told us to stay safe out here."

Cayley wasn't supposed to work Wednesday; she was called in to cover a shift. Her dad was just a few blocks away from picking her up when he was stopped by police roadblocks which were placed up to two miles around Bellingham.

Schools within the two-mile-wide roadblocks were locked down as a precaution. Some students were stuck for some time inside West Chester East High School, according to a message from the district's superintendent that was sent to parents. District officials had to coordinate their release with police.

The scene was finally secure after 10 p.m., Hogan said.

The divorce order "appears to be what set him off today," Hogan said at the press conference.

The shooting at his ex-wife's home happened at 5:45 p.m.; the shooting at the senior living center happened at 6:15 p.m.

The Pennsylvania case was one of a series of shootings that made headlines on Tuesday across the nation.

In western Pennsylvania, a man facing charges stemming from a domestic violence arrest walked into a court building and shot and wounded four people, including a police officer. The gunman was shot by police and died.

In Wisconsin, four people were injured, one of them critically, when a heavily armed employee opened fire in the offices of a software company. 

President Barack Obama is coming back to town this week. He is urging Democrats to register and vote for this upcoming midterm election, but will his campaigning translate into votes?

A new initiative to stop bullying in schools is turning bystanders into upstanders. The first of its kind student club at a Camden County school is recruiting former bullies to stand up and help stop bullying.

A New Jersey county is battling a serious problem with homelessness. Hudson County has the second highest homeless population in the state, and now officials are trying something new to ensure that when you donate to the homeless, they're going to the right place. Gus Rosendale reports.

This Saturday, there will be a 5K walk and run that focuses on the battle against Sickle Cell disease. Dr. Majorie Dejoie Brewer, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, explains the devastating effect it has on people living with this disease.

A South Jersey dentist had a hidden camera in his office restroom. Dr. Robert Hofstetter faces criminal charges.