As isolated storms struck South Jersey Tuesday afternoon, lightning struck two New Jersey State Police vehicles along the Garden State Parkway.
The strikes happened along the Parkway in Middle Township Cape May County around 2:15 p.m.
2:13 pm Trooper in his vehicle at a construction zone in Middle Twp struck by lightning! He seems to be alright and being evaluated at hosp
— NJSP - State Police (@NJSP) July 21, 2015
One struck trooper was taken to AtlantiCare Medical Center and is expected to be OK, said police. The other trooper wasn't injured.
A short time after the incident, NBC10's Ted Greenberg captured a tow truck hauling away both damaged state police vehicles -- a sport utility vehicle and a cruiser. Both vehicles will be inspected for damage from the lightning.
Two @NJSP troop cars being towed away after lightning strike on @GSParkway. @NBCPhiladelphia @NBCNewYork @brian4NY pic.twitter.com/zwRZUCWtSg
— Ted Greenberg (@tedgreenbergNBC) July 21, 2015
A five-mile police pursuit of a drug suspect, who allegedly tried to drive into the fence of a Delaware County prison, ended along a road that leads to Philadelphia International Airport.
The pursuit ended shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday along Route 291 near S. Stewart Avenue in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. That intersection is a short drive from the airport.
It began as police were trying to track down a drug suspect in a suspicious car around 10:45 a.m. in the Sun Village Park section of Chester, said Chester Police Commissioner Joseph Bail.
The man, later identified as Brian Bowe of Wilmington, Delaware became combative as officers approached, the officer tried to subdue Bowe with a stun gun but it didn't work, said Bail. Bowe then drove off -- throwing drugs from his car along the way.
Bowe, 24, then crashed into the fence at the state Correctional Institute in Chester as police tried to box in his vehicle, said Bail. At some point, the suspect tried to run down at least two police officers and struck some police cars, causing officers to fire two shots, said investigators.
Despite being shot in the left upper shoulder, Bowe continued to flee, driving off toward the airport. The pursuit ended several miles down Route 291 in front of the Boeing facility when Bowe's tires blew out, said Bail.
Emergency crews took Bowe to Crozer Chester Hospital where he was listed in stable condition.
Police told NBC10 the suspect appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance and police found drug paraphernalia in the car. The suspect did not complain of any pain, but investigators told NBC10 he was concerned when medics tried to cut his shirt because it was a souvenir from Costa Rica.
As SkyForce10 hovered overhead a short time later, you could see a large police presence – including vehicles from various police departments – in the middle of the blocked off roadway. SkyForce10 also captured a couple of green gates knocked down in a lot next to the prison along Route 291.
The Natural Dog Company, Inc. is recalling some dog treats due to a possible contamination with Salmonella.
The Colorado-based company is recalling its 12oz bags of 12" Tremenda Sticks after a Colorado Department of Agriculture inspection showed a presence of Salmonella in a sample taken from one of the packages, according to the company's press release.
The Salmonella could affect the dogs as well as humans handling the treats, especially if the person did not thoroughly wash their hands after being in contact with the Tremenda Sticks.
Common symptoms in infected people with Salmonella include, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Consumers exhibiting those symptoms should contact their doctor. If a pet has been infected, they may become lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. If a pet has consumed the recalled treats and has these symptoms, you should contact your veterinarian.
No illnesses have been reported in connection with the recalled product, the company said.
The recalled treats were distributed in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah, and Washington. The product comes in a 12oz bag without a lot number or expiration date with UPC number: 851265004957. Products with new packaging, which includes both a lot number and expiration date but the same UPC are not affected by this recall.
Product production has been suspended while the FDA conducts an investigation. Consumers are encouraged to return the treats to the place of purchase for a refund.
Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-888-424-4602/
SEPTA will not resume sales of one day regional passes this week for Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia due to technical issues.
Sales of special SEPTA passes for the Papal visit to Philadelphia during September's World Meeting of Families quickly went off the rail Monday morning causing the transit agency to suspend sales after only a short period of time. On Tuesday SEPTA announced they won't resume the sales this week as they continue to work on the issue.
"We have been working with IT consultants over the last two days, and are still considering the best option to address the high interest among customers interested in purchasing the pass, and the heavy volume on the e-commerce site," said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch.
At 9 a.m. Monday SEPTA began to release one-day Regional Rail passes through a new e-commerce website for the Papal Visit. The site was experiencing "technical difficulties" less than an hour into the sale, however, and a SEPTA spokeswoman said the transit authority was working to resolve those issues.
"While SEPTA was prepared for high volume when online sales began at 9 a.m. today, the traffic to the e-commerce site launched for pass sales was significantly higher than anticipated," said Busch.
RRD: The Papal E-Commerce site is temporarily closed while resolve problems. We apologize/will update when more info. is available
— SEPTA (@SEPTA) July 20, 2015
Most people trying to buy the passes didn't get the chance to complete the sale.
FAQs: Buying Your Pope Pass
SEPTA plans to sell 175,000 of the $10 passes for each day (Sept. 26 and Sept. 27) that the Pontiff is in town. An analysis of the activity Monday showed 54,000 customers visited the e-commerce site within the first minute after it was launched, according to Busch.
"We will continue to evaluate the best option for us to move forward with the sale of the Papal Passes," Busch said. "We may continue to work with the IT consultants to improve the e-commerce site; we are also considering working with an outside vendor to sell the passes for us."
With Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia almost two months away, two of the biggest transportation agencies in the area sold passes and tickets for travel during the Papal visit.
PATCO didn't experience the same issues when they put special passes on sale. Starting at 8 a.m. Monday, July 20, PATCO began selling FREEDOM cards for non-stop service westbound to Center City Philadelphia on September 26-27 between each of the following four New Jersey stations and 9/10th & Locust Street station:
In addition, Amtrak trains will require reservations for the weekend of the Papal Visit and visitors are encouraged to book their tickets now, which are currently available on the Amtrak website.
Crews responded to a water main break in University City.
Officials say water was leaking from a broken main at 33rd and Market streets. Workers shut off the water in the area and 33rd Street is closed off to traffic.
No homes or businesses were affected.
SEPTA's Route 10 trolleys are on diversion to 40th Street due to the water main break. Passengers may board the Market-Frankford Line for service to and from Center City.
Firefighters responded to a fire in West Philadelphia Tuesday.
The 2-alarm blaze started at an apartment building on the 4800 block of Walnut Street. Firefighters were able to put out the flames. No one was injured. Officials have not yet revealed how much damage the fire caused or how many people were displaced. They continue to investigate.
An Atlantic County woman who was badly injured when a table torch in her backyard suddenly exploded is filing a lawsuit against the retailer of the product.
The incident happened in May of 2013. Mari Linn Lacovara of Egg Harbor Township told NBC10 she was trying to blow out her citronella torch when it suddenly burst into flames.
“I turned and it just went ‘boom,’” Lacovara said. “And I caught on fire.”
The blast left the 53-year-old mother and casino executive with second and third degree burns on her face, neck and right hand.
“Skin was everywhere and I was just in shock,” she said.
Lacovara and her husband Andrew, a retired firefighter, bought the torch at a Big Lots store in Somers Point, New Jersey. The couple filed a federal lawsuit against the retailer, claiming the product’s label did not provide information regarding how the product should be extinguished. The couple’s attorney says the torches were made for Big Lots in India and also tested there.
“They should have instructions,” Lacovara said. “There should have been something with it.”
A Texas mother also said her son died after a similar torch exploded. Big Lots issued a recall for the torches nearly three months after Lacovara was burned. Her attorney Paul D’Amato is still trying to figure out how many of the products were actually returned however.
“These table torches are sleeping time bombs,” he said. “We are here today to make sure that nobody else gets hurt.”
NBC10’s Ted Greenberg reached out to Big Lots but was told by a spokeswoman that the company does not comment on pending litigation. In a filed response to the lawsuit however, Big Lots insists it was not at fault and that Lacovara’s “damages” were caused by her own “negligent conduct.”
Lacovara has undergone several surgeries since the incident and expects to have more.
“I hope that will never happen to anybody else,” she said. “I won’t even blow out a birthday candle now. I just can’t do it.”
A pedestrian was struck and killed on I-295 in Paulsboro, Gloucester County Tuesday.
The unidentified victim was struck by a vehicle in the northbound lanes of I-295 near exit 19. He or she was pronounced dead.
Two northbound lanes were shut down at the scene of the crash. Officials say the vehicle stayed on the scene.
Two people were shot and killed inside a Delaware home Tuesday.
The shooting occurred inside a home on Monferrato Court in Bear, Delaware. Officials say two people were killed in the shooting. They have not yet revealed their identities.
Police have released few details on the shooting but say they are not searching for a suspect.
A woman who claimed to be a family member of one of the victims told NBC10 they were a boyfriend and girlfriend. Police have not yet confirmed this however.
Family members found the body of a swimmer who disappeared in the Delaware River over the weekend in Bucks County.
NBC10's Denise Nakano was interviewing the mother of 22-year-old Marquis Richardson in the area of the Bristol Borough Park along the Delaware River around 6 p.m. Tuesday when family members noticed his body floating in the water. They then went out in a fishing boat and recovered his body.
"I wasn't leaving here until I found my son," said Sam Richardson, Marquis' father. "I did a lot of praying. I don't have my son here on earth no more. He's in my heart. He's in my spirit. He'll always be my little man. I love him to death. And we got him out of that damn water."
Nakano called 911 after the family discovered the body. A coroner, police and other officials later responded to the scene.
Richardson's body surfaced about 1000 feet from where he first went missing in the Delaware River Sunday. He was in the water at Bristol Wharf, off of Mill and Radcliffe streets when he disappeared.
"When I got the text I was in church," said Richardson's aunt Judy Cowan. "I just broke down and everybody in church said a prayer for him and for the family."
Cowan told NBC10 that Richardson, who had moved from Camden to Virginia, was with his girlfriend at the park when he went under the water. Witnesses told NBC10 it happened in a split second.
"He touched the buoy twice," said Jerry Shumsonk of Fairless Hills. "It seemed like he was doing okay. The front stroke and everything looked impressive. And he left the buoy and he went down the water a little bit."
The witnesses saw Richardson communicate with his girlfriend who was on the shore. Then they heard his frantic cries for help.
"I saw him go under the water about three times," Shumsonk said. "The fourth time he never came out. I got up and called 911."
New Jersey State Police and the Coast Guard were among entities that responded and conducted the search. They switched to recovery mode and divers then joined the search.
Around 5 p.m. Sunday officials suspended the search due to a dangerous current.
Cowan told NBC10 Tuesday her family was frustrated by what they believe was a lack of help from officials during the recovery effort.
"There were a few people out there on boats riding around but as far as divers, the only divers were our family members," Cowan said. "We didn't get no help at all. And it's very frustrating."
Officials said the Bristol Wharf is a particularly dangerous section of the Delaware to swim, because the river goes from four to five feet and drops off suddenly to about 20 feet.
Richardson's family plans to follow up with Bristol Borough officials about recovery efforts and getting signs warning swimmers to stay out of the water.
Richardson is the third person who drowned while swimming in the Delaware River over the past few days. On Saturday 41-year-old Jason Moser of Myerstown was trying to swim across the river in the area of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area when he went under about 2:30 p.m. Authorities said his body was recovered about two hours later in 10 feet of water in an area called Shad Rocks between Bushkill Access and Smithfield Beach.
Park superintendent John Donahue said after the drowning that the Delaware's current is strong and quick, and the depth can change suddenly, "often going from knee-deep to over your head in a single step."
Also on Sunday, Thomas Scott, a father of two, drowned in the Delaware River in Burlington City, New Jersey.
Police are investigating an ATM explosion in the Hunting Park section of the city.
Police responded to a report of a shooting at 6th and Luzerne streets around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday. When they arrived, they found a damaged ATM with pieces that had flown 50 to 100 feet. Investigators then determined someone used some type of explosive device on the ATM, which was located next to a business.
No money was taken and no one was injured during the incident.
Investigators believe the incident was captured on video and are checking nearby surveillance cameras.
The Bomb Squad is also investigating.
Heavy rain, lightning and a possible waterspout struck the Jersey Shore Tuesday. Check out videos and photos of the storm.
A video of an arrest in Chester, Delaware County has sparked allegations of police brutality.
The cellphone video, which was posted on Facebook but has since been taken down, shows a group of police officers arrest a man on Lehman Street on the border of Chester City and Chester Township late Sunday morning.
In the video the officers repeatedly punch the man, identified by family and friends as 49-year-old Walter Moat. One officer also appears to kick him in the chest.
“He was lying on the ground and he was handcuffed,” said Taniece Day, a friend of Moat who witnessed the incident. “He was lying on his side. His face was all bloody. He had knocks on his head and the cops were kicking him, tasing him, punching him, throwing him on the ground, pulling his pants down.”
Day says the ordeal began when Moat was driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street and encountered a police officer who was responding to a home break-in call.
“They could’ve just gave him a ticket or something,” she said. “They didn’t do that.”
As more officers arrived and began to arrest Moat, another witness began recording on his cellphone.
In the two-minute clip, Moat, who Day says is developmentally delayed and speaks with a stutter, appears to be resisting arrest at first. After he is taken to the ground the officers repeatedly punch him. The pop of a taser is also heard at least twice. An officer also screams that Moat has a gun as the others continue to punch him.
“I didn’t see a gun,” Day said.
Matthew Horace, a security expert and former ATF agent, viewed the video of the arrest, which he found troubling.
“It looked as though it was a little much to be able to get one individual who was not being totally non-compliant into handcuffs and get him moving on his way,” Horace said.
Day also told NBC10 Moat's friends and family don't know where he is at the moment or if he was ever released from police custody.
NBC10 reached out to both Chester City and Chester Township officers for comment. A police spokesperson said they recovered a gun from Moat’s front pocket. Moat’s friends told NBC10 they never saw one however.
The Chester City Police Commissioner also told NBC10 no one has filed a complaint or asked for an investigation into the arrest and that neither city nor township police leaders had seen the video until Tuesday night. They plan to review it Wednesday however.
A bulletproof vest is being credited for saving the life of an officer who was serving a murder warrant in Northeast Philadelphia Wednesday morning.
The suspect died after being shot by police.
The shooting happened about 6 a.m. in the 800 block of Riverside Drive.
According to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, members of the SWAT Team and homicide division went to a second floor apartment to serve a murder warrant.
When officers entered the residence, Ramsey said the suspect, identified by sources as 27-year-old Devon Guisherd, grabbed what turned out to be a weapon and began to run. At some point, the suspect spun around and opened fire, striking a SWAT Team officer in the bulletproof vest near his stomach.
The officer returned fire, fatally striking the suspect.
Guisherd, according to sources, was wanted for the shooting death of a pregnant woman and her unborn child in Philadelphia in September 2014.
Ramsey said the officer, who is a 17-year veteran of the force, has a “nasty bruise.” He was treated and released from Aria Health Torresdale Hospital.
According to Ramsey, SWAT Team officers wear an extra level of armor protection and Ramsey credits that for saving the officer’s life.
This is the second time that the officer was shot in the line of duty, Ramsey said.
The officer is married with two kids.
The name of the officer has not been released.
The shooting remains under investigation.
