09/06/2008 Teen in officer's death troubled, neighbors say

Known to police from previous run-ins, Andre Butler, 16, the Mantua teen charged with driving the stolen car that killed a Philadelphia police officer Friday, was notorious in his West Philadelphia neighborhood, residents said.

Several interviewed on the 700 block of North Markoe Street yesterday recalled a short, muscular youth who was on the run after apparently escaping from a Harrisburg-area juvenile detention facility.

Despite being a fugitive - Philadelphia police issued a warrant for Butler's arrest June 27 after he failed to attend a Family Court "incorrigiblity" hearing - he did not keep a particularly low profile in the community, said residents of Lucien Blackwell Homes, the housing project where Butler lived with his 47-year-old mother and other relatives.

Neighbor Aretha Bickerstaff, 37, recalled that Butler recently repainted a motorcycle. Neighbors also said they saw him break out the windows of a tractor-trailer belonging to a neighbor's boyfriend. Bickerstaff said she kept her four children away from Butler's family as much as possible.

Bickerstaff's daughter Marcie, 18, said the stolen 1999 Cadillac Escalade that Butler was allegedly driving when it crashed into the police car of Officer Isabel Nazario , killing her and seriously injuring her partner, Officer Terry Tull, appeared to have been in Butler's possession for more than a week.

When she asked Butler about the Cadillac, she said he told her, "Don't worry about it. I got connections. I got people. "

Aretha Bickerstaff said Butler was just a kid and probably more troubled than malevolent. But now, she added, he faces charges that a simple apology can't erase.

"The sad part is, people won't accept 'sorry,'" she said. "Now he's scared and facing life in prison. "

Butler's next-door neighbor of nearly five years, Barbara George, 49, had nothing good to say about Butler or his family.

She described them as neighbors "from hell" whose house swarmed with noisy children and adolescents who trashed adjoining properties with litter and condoms, George said. She said she and other neighbors reported the family to the housing project management and tried to have them evicted.

Butler, who police said was driving erratically and trying to elude capture when the Escalade crashed into Nazario's squad car, is charged with six felonies, including third-degree murder. He is in custody awaiting arraignment and a preliminary hearing set for tomorrow.

In 2005, Butler was convicted of a strongarm robbery, according to police, who gave no further details. He was adjudicated delinquent and was expected to remain in the juvenile system until May 2010, when he turns 18.

"Ever since June, he has been eluding police," police spokeswoman Tanya Little said yesterday. "And now this. "

Contact staff writer Michael Matza at 215-854-2541 or mmatza@phillynews.com.

Neighbors describe the teen who hit the police car. B6.