One person was injured and firefighters were able to resuscitate a dog following a house fire in Philadelphia early Wednesday morning.
The fire broke out about 3 a.m. inside a home in the 500 block of Geneva Avenue in the city’s Crescentville section.
When firefighters arrived, they encountered heavy smoke and flames billowing from the home. They were able to bring the fire under control a short time later.
Neighbors told NBC10 the homeowner, a man in his 40s, initially left the home through a front bedroom window with one of his dogs. The man, neighbors say, went back into the home to rescue a second dog and came back out.
The homeowner was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center for treatment of burns and smoke inhalation. His condition is unknown.
Several firefighters were able to resuscitate one of the dogs by giving it oxygen. Both dogs are now in the care of the Red Paw Emergency Relief Team.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Since 2008, Pennsylvania State Police troopers intentionally fired their guns in the line of duty at least 120 times.
Only one of those shootings was deemed “improper” by internal investigators, according to records obtained by PublicSource. That’s less than 1 percent of the shootings.
The near-perfect record covers a period when at least 18 citizens were killed by troopers who felt a threat to themselves or others and fired their service weapons.
Yet the agency, which insists its investigations are free from bias, declined to provide PublicSource with details on that single maligned shooting from 2010, saying it was a personnel matter. Nor could the state police provide updated statistics on the number of citizens killed by troopers.
PublicSource filed three open-records requests over six months and still ended up with scant detail about the outcomes of use-of-force investigations. The internal reports provided the numbers on investigation results, but no details on the shootings themselves .
The lack of transparency from the Pennsylvania State Police comes at a time when shootings in local police departments have been under intense scrutiny because of the rolling tide of police shootings nationwide. Communities in Ferguson, Mo., Cleveland and Philadelphia have been outraged over the use of deadly force by officers and asked why shootings are nearly always justified.
The pristine record of the Pennsylvania State Police could well be a mark of strong training, rather than a record of poor judgment. But that is impossible to examine because there is so little information about the investigations.
“You want to know, is the [police] organization really that good or is this process flawed?” said David Harris, professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh.
Police owe the public the “greatest degree of transparency that they can muster,” including the release of policies on how and when force can be used, he said.
Killing in Fayette
Shawn Knight was shot dead by troopers in Fayette County in 2013.
His death is either an example of troopers reasonably defending themselves, or a tale of an innocent man shot dead in his home moments after being roused from sleep.
A June lawsuit from Knight’s widow, Kim, claims two troopers responded to a domestic disturbance call in North Union and, upon arrival, were told that the argument between Knight, 50, and his daughter ended and that they were no longer needed.
But, according to the lawsuit, the troopers pushed over Kim Knight, entered the home and exited after spotting two handguns on the table, which they’d been told were present.
Shawn Knight, according to the lawsuit, was startled awake and picked up the guns after the troopers left, but did not realize they were law enforcement or raise the weapons. After opening his front door, Knight was struck by three bullets, with others in close proximity to his wife and daughter, the suit said.
The state had a totally different story on behalf of the troopers.
By its telling, Knight was not sleeping when a trooper entered and pointed a handgun while yelling for the trooper to leave his house. He then brought at least one gun out on the porch, disobeyed an order to “get down” and raised the handgun at troopers.
The troopers opened fire because they “reasonably feared for their lives and the safety of others,” said the state’s response to the lawsuit.
Deadly force is authorized in exactly those circumstances. A threat doesn’t even have to actually exist; for instance, force could be justified if a citizen reached for a wallet but an officer mistook it for a gun.
Investigations following shootings are automatic. A district attorney decides whether criminal charges are warranted, though the investigation of police actions is internal, as is any non-criminal investigation of policy violations.
Richard Long, executive director of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, said the group hasn’t specifically examined state police shootings but said prosecutors have generally been satisfied with the agency’s investigations.
To avoid bias, internal nvestigations are handled and monitored by troopers outside the chain of command of anyone involved in the shooting, said Maria Finn, a state police spokeswoman.
Other agencies may take part in the investigations, depending on the jurisdiction and whether other police departments are involved.
Joel Sansone, a Pittsburgh-based attorney for Knight’s widow, said the internal process is inherently flawed.
“Asking an agency, any police agency to police itself is fraught with peril,” Sansone said.
In 2013, the year Knight died, at least 26 line-of-duty shootings were tallied and none considered improper.
An “improper” ruling means the trooper’s actions did not meet guidelines established by the agency or the law.
Sansone also cites the death of Michael Ellerbe, 12 years old when shot dead in Fayette County by a trooper on Christmas Eve in 2002.
Ellerbe was running away from a stolen vehicle, and the responding troopers said one of their own guns accidentally fired. Thinking Ellerbe was the one shooting, Trooper Samuel Nassan III shot and killed the unarmed boy, according to the troopers.
Sansone helped represent Ellerbe’s family, who won $28 million in a civil trial in 2008.
Nassan has been the subject of several lawsuits and was also involved in a fatal shooting on Pittsburgh’s South Side in 2009.
The state, which denied liability, settled for $650,000 with the family of Nicholas Haniotakis, who allegedly tried to run down officers with a vehicle before being shot dead by Nassan. He was cleared by prosecutors after both shootings.
While the state police has not yet provided PublicSource with statistics on justifiable homicides, The Wall Street Journal obtained them from the agency for a story on the holes in FBI data on deadly police shootings nationwide. According to that report, the state police tallied 15 justifiable homicides from 2008 through 2012, the latest year available.
In an effort to patch missing numbers in FBI data, The Washington Post has been tracking every fatal police shooting nationwide for 2015. So far, the Post reports two fatal shootings by Pennsylvania troopers, one involving a man reportedly firing a rifle in the air outside the Adams County Prison and another involving a fugitive from Arizona killed in a home in Reading.
Reports provided to PublicSource do not say when anyone was injured or killed in a shooting, including the single incident ruled “improper.”
Training and scrutiny
The state police separately tallies accidental discharges.Ten out of 23 accidental discharges were deemed improper from 2008 through 2013. Another seven adjudications said troopers were either negligent or in need of counseling or training.
Detailed data is not available for 2014 or 2015.
Mistakes can easily turn deadly.
Last month, a state police shooting instructor was sentenced to two weeks in jail following a tragic 2014 accidental shooting. Trooper Richard Schroeter, now retired, pulled the trigger of a loaded gun, inadvertently killing Trooper David Kedra in Montgomery County.
In some cases, an “improper” discharge is simply an indication that more training is needed, said John “Rick” Brown, who retired in 2010 as Pennsylvania’s state police deputy commissioner of administration and professional responsibility.
Brown, whose company Transparency Matters advises departments on internal investigations, said he believes the state police does a good job both at shooting investigations and in training officers to make split-second, life-or-death decisions.
“I think we’ve got one of the better processes,” Brown said, explaining that the state police is often the go-to agency to process evidence and to investigate shootings involving officers in local departments.
The state police separately considers shots fired at fleeing vehicles.
Brown finds that category troubling, citing how danger is compounded when moving vehicles are involved.
Many departments ban the practice in all but the most extreme cases. Bullets can fly and hit other vehicles. If a driver is hit, a vehicle could become uncontrollable and crash at high speed.
However, internal reports show 17 justified cases where troopers shot at moving vehicles. Three of these shootings (two in 2010 and one in 2012) were marked “improper.”
The state police would not disclose its policy on firing at or from moving vehicles, Finn said.
For Mary Catherine Roper, deputy legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the question is not only whether officers use their firearms in violation of policy or law, but also whether police are examining whether force was necessary at all.
“Is there something we can offer this officer to make this kind of encounter less dangerous and less likely to use force in the future?” she said.
In other words, should training and internal reviews put more emphasis on reactions that aren’t a trigger pull?
Finn said the state police uses investigations to look for training opportunities. But that doesn’t mean the agency believes the trooper did anything wrong.
“If a trooper felt they or others were in fear of death or serious bodily injury, and the discharge of the weapon was within the law and policy, then it was necessary,” Finn said in an email.
In a heated moment, the trooper “gets milliseconds to decide what to do, and people look at it for years afterward,” said Jeffrey Shaw, former head of state police internal affairs for Western Pennsylvania.
Scrutiny in Philadelphia
A willingness to accept outside criticism is crucial, Roper said.
Recently, the U.S. Justice Department released a scathing report on use of force by the Philadelphia Police Department, saying that the department had “serious deficiencies” in its use-of-force policies and insufficient oversight of investigations.
To be clear, Philadelphia police and the state police are very different. Philadelphia reported more than four times as many justifiable homicides as the state police to the Wall Street Journal from 2008 until 2012, and has tallied 394 shootings in eight years, according to the DOJ report.
The Philadelphia Police review was requested by Charles Ramsey, its own commissioner, after a Philly.com article pointed out that shootings by police were up even though crime was down.
Ramsey at the time considered the use-of-force policy to fit best practices.
The DOJ published nearly 180 pages in March assessing flaws that led to Philadelphia officers shooting too often, many times at unarmed suspects.
Roper said all departments should be open to that type of review, which gives a rare look at how officers use deadly force, and when they fall short in efforts to avoid shootings and investigate them properly.
The state police provides timely information on officer-involved shootings, Finn said, though details depend on the facts of the case.
Attorney Sansone would like to see civilian oversight of officer shooting investigations. Troopers would no longer be policing themselves, which he thinks comes with an incentive to protect their own.
“These guys consider themselves to be the elite force in Pennsylvania,” Sansone said. “Yet many, many times they violate the Constitution and the people they’re sworn to protect.”
Reach Jeffrey Benzing at 412-315-0265 or at jbenzing@publicsource.org. Follow him on Twitter @jabenzing. PublicSource reporter Eric Holmberg contributed data work to this report.
Cheltenham Township Emergency Management will conduct a disaster drill Saturday morning, Oct. 24, 2015 from 7 a.m. through noon.
So if you hear or see a lot of emergency responders racing to the area around Elkins Park School and Cheltenham High School, don't panic.
Access to your home may be restricted during the drill. Proper identification will get you where you need to go if that happens. The following areas will be affected:
Along Kingston Road, expect to see temporary no parking signs during the morning, which includes no parking in the school lot.
This training will serve as a learning tool for Volunteer Firefighters, EMS staff, Police Officers, and Public Works personnel to help them better protect and serve the residents of the community. The township is working with the school district on the drill.
Date: Saturday, October 24Th
Time: 7:00am-12:00 Noon
Location: Elkins Park School, 8149 New Second Street
& Cheltenham High School, 500 Rices Mill Road
People with questions are encouraged to call Cheltenham Township Emergency Management at 215-635-3739.
Vice President Joe Biden has decided not to run for president in 2016.
After weeks of speculation about whether he would jump in, Biden announced on Oct. 21, that he would not make a third run for the presidency because he doesn't have enough time to pull together the necessary campaign.
"What I’ve said time and again is it may very well be that the process, by the time we get through it, closes the window," Biden said during a press conference at the Rose Garden with President Obama looking on. "I concluded it has closed. "
The Vice President's announcement comes a week after a heated debate between the democratic presidential candidates in Las Vegas. Many analysts said that Hillary Clinton's strong performance in that debate, and her adherence to Obama Administration policies effectively closed the door for Biden. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Biden in third place behind Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Biden has been publicly mourning the death of his 46-year-old son, Beau. The vice president's late son died on May 30 from brain cancer.
"Beau is our inspiration," Biden said. "Unfortunately I believe we’re out of time, time to mount a winning nomination for the nomination"
During the announcement, Biden said that he wouldn't sit on the sidelines of the presidential election and would be an active campaigner.
"While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent," Biden said, signaling that he would play the role of party enforcer and make sure Democratic candidates do not run away from Obama.
"This country will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away and try to undo the Obama legacy," Biden said. "Democrats should not only defend this record, they should run on this record."
He also decried a political atmosphere that pits Democrats and Republicans as enemies.
"They're not our enemies, they're our opposition," Biden said before launching into a speech that detailed many of the things he would have focused on as a presidential candidate -- including curing cancer and improving education.
A group called Draft Biden 2016, which had been running advertisments encouraging the Vice President to run, released a statement after Biden's announcement.
"We are so grateful for the gigantic outpouring of support from hundreds of thousands of Americans around the country in our effort to encourage the Vice President to run. While the Vice President has decided not to run, we know that over the next year he will stand up for all Americans and articulate a vision for America's future that will leave no one behind."
A school bus struck someone along a Delaware County street Wednesday afternoon.
The incident happened around 3:15 p.m. at N Providence Road and Wilson Woods Lane, said Delco dispatchers.
The extent of injuries wasn’t clear. It also wasn't immediately clear if the person struck is a student or someone else.
No word yet if the bus had anything to do with the nearby Benchmark School.
As SkyForce10 hovered overhead a short time later, you couldn't see any scene where the crash occurred.
A BRA Day benefit is being held Wednesday night for women exploring options for breast reconstruction surgery.
BRA (Breast Reconstruction Awareness) Day helps women who have undergone mastectomies understand what reconstruction surgery is all about and explores some of the latest techniques being used. It also provides a supportive environment for breast cancer survivors and their loved ones.
Former NBC10 reporter and breast cancer survivor Lu Ann Cahn is a featured speaker at tonight's event, which is free.
Wednesday, October 21st, 2015
from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
at Claytor/Noone Plastic Surgery, 888 Glenbrook Avenue, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Raffle tickets will be sold for a variety of items including skincare products, jewelry and BOTOX treatments. Proceeds benefit Living Beyond Breast Cancer.
Space is limited. Please call (610) 527-4833 for reservations.
Philadelphia students marched Wednesday afternoon against gun violence in the classroom.
“A Blessing, a Walk and a Rally” featured students and activists who walked from Masterman High School in the Spring Garden section of the city to the 500 block of Percy Street (near 10th Street & Spring Garden Avenue) to protest a gun range in such close proximity to schools.
A gun scare at the Community College of Philadelphia, just a couple of weeks back, served as one of the latest incidents of gun scares at places of learning around the country.
The students say they want to be in fear of gun violence when they go to learn.
The owner of the gun range says that more guns -- including armed guards at schools -- would help stop the violence.
The Oreland Volunteer Fire Company has taken to Facebook to give the public a peek into behind-the-scenes work that goes into fighting fires.
Last week, LuLu Country Club, along Limekiln Pike and Jenkintown Road, erupted into flames. Lack of a water source nearby made extinguishing the flames more of a challenge for firefighters.
Jim Gordon, Fire Chief of the Oreland Volunteer Fire Company, says that in response to the country club fire, he and his team posted a statement on Facebook letting the public know how much work goes into getting water on a fire scene.
Gordon wrote about the complications his team faced during the LuLu Country Club fire.
"The first thing to notice [in the map] is that the closest available fire hydrants were 1500 feet to over 2000 feet away from the fire. This requires the trucks to carry large diameter hose (5").The next issue is that trying to get water through hose over that distance requires trucks being in line and boosting the pressure in what is called a water relay. Other factors that come into play are the elevation from where the hydrants are to where the fire is. Once all of this is overcome then the water finally gets to the fire scene and is distributed to the various trucks on the scene."
Gordon goes on to point out that even during all of this, the firefights are also doing mental math in their heads to figure out water pressure and making sure they don't run out.
“Most people do not realize what needs to get done to get water to a fire scene,” Gordon wrote, and then continued to explain how the closeness of fire hydrants, hoses, and water pressure affect fire response time.
“I just figured it’d be interesting for people to see what we go through,” Gordon said.
He ended the Facebook post with “so the next time you see a fire like this keep in mind there are many things going on behind the scene besides fighting the fire.”
New video has surfaced showing the punch heard round the sports world: An Eagles fan slugging a Giants fan at a SEPTA Terminal after the Eagles defeat the Giants Monday night in Philadelphia.
SEPTA Police Released surveillance video on Wednesday from 69th Street Terminal showing a confrontation between the Giants fan and a group of several men decked out in Eagles gear at 69th Street a few minutes before the punch was thrown. Police said the entire confrontation at the terminal that culminated in blows to the Giants' fan's face lasted about four minutes and was picked up by several cameras throughout the terminal.
They're now using that surveillance footage -- in addition to footage they're looking to obtain from the train the group took, as well as other stations they passed through -- to identify both the puncher and the punchee.
In the video, it appears that the Giants fan, wearing a red jersey, taunts a group of Eagles fans a few minutes before the blows are thrown. A woman with the Giants fan appears to attempt to calm him down to no avail.
Police are asking that both the man punched and the man who threw the punches, as well as any witnesses, come forward.
"There was a lot going on there for four minutes," SEPTA Police Chief Tom Nestel III said. "There are two sides to every story and it would be a smart move on the person who punched to come in and tell his side before we get the victim and hear his side."
Nestel said police believe the people involved in the brawl got on the Broad Street Line at AT&T Station after leaving Monday night's game at Lincoln Financial Field, took the subway to City Hall, and then got on a Market-Frankford El train west to 69th Street Terminal, in Upper Darby, where the confrontation escalated. Police suspect some words were likely exchanged on the train.
The confrontation escalated to blows that knocked the Giants fan to the ground toward the western side of the terminal, where trolleys are, police said. The man who was punched gets up quickly in the video and walks away with the woman, not appearing to be seriously injured, but police said they still want to talk to him to sort out what happened.
The punch was also caught on cell phone camera and posted to YouTube.
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To add insult to the Giants fan's injury, the Eagles beat the Giants 27-7 Monday night.
Anyone with information is asked to call 215-580-8111.
Longtime lovers of an eatery once named the best Chinese restaurant in America returned to their beloved bistro Wednesday after half a million dollars in renovations promised to clean up the Main Line fixture after a roach infestation.
"We missed coming here... going to have a nice lunch and enjoy it," said Hazzel who's been coming to Yangming since it first opened in 1990. "We're happy to be back."
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Yangming reopened its doors Wednesday after more than two months of massive renovations called for after a diner was twice served a roach back in August.
Old-timers quickly got inside the restaurant at Haverford and Conestoga roads in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania after it opened for lunch at 11:30 a.m. and ordered their favorites.
"I had spring rolls and pork fried rice," said Chris Torres. "I had no worries, I’ve been coming for 25 years, it’s home… Yangming rocks."
The Main Line stalwart that was in 2011 named a "best Chinese restaurant" by Chinese Restaurant News, gave a tour of its newly renovated space on Tuesday.
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Clean tables, and most importantly a clean kitchen, welcomed back loyal customers not deterred by the roach infestation that had county officials calling the place "deplorable."
Authorities shuttered the restaurant in August when Yangming employees called police over a customer dispute after a patron was served noodles with a roach in them not once, but twice, according to officials. When police arrived for the dispute, "there were roaches that were in plain sight" in the restaurant, Radnor Police Lt. Andy Block said at the time.
Radnor Township health officials posted a health citation in the front window that listed "Gross Facility & Equipment Sanitation" and "Insect/Rodent Infestation" as reasons for the closure.
The restaurant apologized more than a week after it was first closed for the infestation. What followed was weeks of renovations and updates to meet county health standards.
Yangming has undergone extensive renovations including updating and cleaning kitchen equipment, food storage areas and refrigerators, said a news release from the eatery. Diners will also see new flooring, furniture and interior fixtures. the restaurant said it also updated its exterior and landscaping. The total cost of renovations came out around $500,000.
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After six years and more than 100 policy and directive revisions, the Philadelphia Police Department this week achieved its accreditation from the state of Pennsylvania.
With roughly 6,500 sworn personnel, the PPD is the largest law-enforcement agency in the state, which has more than 1,100 police departments across its 67 counties. The department's accreditation brings the percentage of the state's law-enforcement officers who work for accredited agencies to more than 50 percent, Upper Moreland Police Chief Mike Murphy, who heads up the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
The PPD is now among 104 agencies across the state to be accredited, Murphy said.
For the department, accreditation means a near-continuous review of the best policies and practices in policing, as well as increased accountability, protection and consistency for officers across the PPD, authorities said.
During the news conference at which the PPD's accreditation was announced, Mayor Nutter called it a "crowning achievement" for outgoing Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and the department. Several officers who worked on the accreditation were present to discuss the process and what it means for police and citizens.
"The people of Philadelphia can rest assured they have a department that meets national standards," Ramsey said.
Lt. Steve Clark, who headed up the group of officers working on the accreditation process for three of the six years the accreditation took, said the achievement is a testament to officers' "commitment, passion and dedication" to improving policing in the city. He said the 100-plus policy and directive changes and additions took commitment of officers across the department.
The six-year accreditation process led to the creation of seven new directives for Philadelphia Police officers, including one providing guidelines for interactions with transgender people and another that created a field development program to keep officers' skills safe, Clark said. Other changes included enhancements to the way evidence and property collected by patrol officers are stored that saves officers more than 11,000 hours a year in trips to City Hall's evidence room, Clark said, as well as a policy on transportation of wheelchair-bound prisoners.
Officers are also required now to qualify at the shooting range with any weapons they carry off-duty, as well as with their service weapons, Clark said.
The officers who worked on the accreditation said it doesn't make the average officer's job any more difficult and, in some cases, streamlined certain processes by improving or eliminating outdated paperwork that had been in use for decades. The department will need to be re-accredited every three years, requiring regular reviews of policies and best practices, officials said.
"It's truly a great thing for the city," Clark said. "It demonstrates the commitment we have."
Sixers forward Jerami Grant, Sixers Dancers, Sixers Phlight Squad, Franklin the mascot, and more surprised youngsters at a basketball game in Clemente Park Wednesday, which is in Philly's Spring Garden neighborhood.
The team and other members transformed the matchup into an authentic Sixers game. Jerami Grant and World B. Free coached the teams, Sixers Dancers and Franklin performed during the game, and Sixers in-arena host, Christian Crosby provided commentary.
After the game, the kids gave post-game interviews hosted by Sixers announcer Matt Cord.
The event is part of Blue Week, the Sixers’ promotional campaign leading up to the season opener.
Other events during Blue Week include:
Friday, Oct. 23rd: Franklin the mascot will rappel 418 feet down One Logan Square at 9:30 a.m.
Saturday, Oct. 24th: Sixers Phlight Squad and Dancers will be at Linville Orchard helping families pick and carve pumpkins from 11 a.m. to noon.
Sunday, Oct. 25th: Sixers players will hold NovaCare Juniors Sixers Clinic for selected YMCA participants at 1:30 p.m.
A full list of team events can be found on the Sixers website.
