Police Vehicles

The Camden Police Department has corrected inspection problems involving 25 of its vehicles, most of them Ford Crown Victoria cruisers, police and state officials said yesterday. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development cited the department in November for maintaining a hazardous workplace by failing to have the vehicles properly inspected as required by state law. Some had stickers that showed they had failed inspection. Others had expired stickers or none at all. One Ford van was overdue for an inspection that should have been performed in September 2002.

With an average of 53,000 to 58,000 miles on their odometers, Caln police cars will have to be replaced within the next few years. Police Chief James Franciscus had asked the township Board of Commissioners earlier for backups. "The earliest we can place an order (for a new car) is in November, and we won't get it until March, so it looks like the kind of situation where we'll have to go out and bid," Vice President Alan Jarvis said at Thursday's commissioners meeting. The board said it would accommodate Franciscus' request.

A shooting at a basketball game in Southwest Center City last night wounded four young people and set off a chain of events that led to a collision between police vehicles that sent four officers to the hospital. Authorities said three of the shooting victims were in critical condition early today: a 20-year-old man and two girls, 16 and 17. The man, who was shot in the head, was clinging to life at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The 16-year-old, who was hit in the chest, was taken to the same hospital.

Voorhees Township is planning to maintain its police vehicles itself instead of using private garages. On Monday, the Voorhees Township Committee hired Milton White, a mechanic who will work out of the public-works department, and awarded a $17,264 bid to the Sun Electric Corp. of Mount Laurel for an engine analyzer. The township already repairs its public-works vehicles but receives bids from private garages to its repair police cars, township administrator Charles F. Mann said.

The deals just keep coming in a month more associated with vacation arrangements than definitive agreements. Google Inc. conjures up $12.5 billion to buys Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. , which makes cable set-top boxes in Montgomery County. Philadelphia's Sunoco Inc. unloads its Ohio phenol plant in exchange for $106.5 million. Cardtronics Inc. scoops up Cherry Hill-based Access to Money Inc. , which operates 10,000 ATMs in stores and credit unions, for $21.2 million.

A mental-health worker was hospitalized in stable condition yesterday after going on a rampage that included stabbing his supervisor in an Upper Roxborough group home and later crashing a stolen car into several federal government police vehicles in Center City. Benjamin Gay, 28, was captured in front of the federal courthouse in the 600 block of Market Street after a struggle with police. He was admitted to Hahnemann University Hospital and later charged with a string of offenses that included attempted murder, auto theft, driving under the influence of drugs, and criminal mischief.

A plan to reduce maintenance costs on police vehicles by replacing them each year with new cars has been presented to the Sharon Hill Borough Council. During a caucus meeting Thursday night, council member Bernard Foster said the plan would save the borough about $8,000 in repair costs each year. In addition, Foster estimated that the proposal would reduce police radio maintenance costs by about $1,000 each year. He said two new vehicles would cost about $28,000, and that the two older vehicles would be worth $5,000 apiece when they were traded in. Police Chief William Hanna said that borough police put about 45,000 miles on each of the cars yearly.

A six-mile chase that involved 15 police vehicles ended with the arrest of a 21-year-old Clifton Heights man on a drunken-driving charge. The chase began after a two-vehicle accident near the intersection of Church Lane and Pembroke Avenue, East Lansdowne, about 7 p.m. Sunday. Police gave this account: An officer saw a van driven by Francis J. MacNeil, 21, of the 200 block of West Baltimore Avenue, Clifton Heights, hit a Plymouth sedan and leave the scene. The officer pursued the van through five municipalities.

The Tredyffrin supervisors on Monday night approved a basic design for their new township building after a presentation of the plan. The $5.6 million police and administration building, to be constructed just north of Route 202, will consist of two symmetrical wings with a public meeting room and entrance lobby between the two. The supervisors had given the go-ahead for the design of a one-story building in March. The octagonal-shaped meeting room will seat more than 130 and include a dais for the supervisors' seats, said Jeff Hill, project designer for the Vitteta Group architectural firm, which made the presentation Monday.

Darby Borough's policy of buying new police cars every year has been questioned by a member of the Borough Council. Third Ward Councilman Robert Deaver contends that buying new cars would be imprudent at a time when the borough's anticipated revenues are down by $23,850 and proposed expenditures are up by about $18,850. A council member for 38 years, Deaver argued that the Police Department had received good value in past years by purchasing used cars and "running them into the ground.

MOSCOW - A demonstration by at least 20,000 people on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president turned into a battle with police Sunday after some protesters tried to split off from the approved venue and march to the Kremlin. Club-wielding officers wearing helmets seized demonstrators and hauled them to police vehicles, dragging some by the hair, others by the neck. Several protesters were injured, including one man with blood dripping from his head down the left side of his face.

A city police officer running after two drug suspects was hit by a police vehicle Monday night in North Philadelphia. The accident occurred at 8:43 p.m. in the 2000 block of North Broad Street, while the narcotics officer was in a foot pursuit, police said. The officer suffered a broken finger. He was at Temple University Hospital late Monday night but was expected to be released, police said. - Robert Moran

The deals just keep coming in a month more associated with vacation arrangements than definitive agreements. Google Inc. conjures up $12.5 billion to buys Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. , which makes cable set-top boxes in Montgomery County. Philadelphia's Sunoco Inc. unloads its Ohio phenol plant in exchange for $106.5 million. Cardtronics Inc. scoops up Cherry Hill-based Access to Money Inc. , which operates 10,000 ATMs in stores and credit unions, for $21.2 million.

A 14-year-old boy suffered minor injuries Thursday night when he was hit by a police vehicle in West Philadelphia, police said. The accident occurred about 9:30 p.m. in the area of 60th Street and Washington Avenue, police said. The boy was transported to Children's Hospital to be treated. No further information was immediately available.

Officer Terry Tull, his voice cracked, told a packed courtroom yesterday how his late partner was like a mother to everyone, and how losing her nearly two years ago to a reckless teen driver made no sense. "That family bond, that's what she gave to us," Tull said of Officer Isabel Nazario, 40, who was killed when a stolen SUV driven by then-16-year-old Andre Butler rammed into the passenger side of their patrol car at 39th and Wallace streets in Mantua. Tull turned his attention to Butler in court, and yelled: "And then, you!

An 81-year-old businessman was killed in Vineland, N.J., yesterday morning when a stolen paramedics' SUV plowed into his minivan after a police pursuit, authorities said. Vineland police released few details on the chase and crash that took the life of Alfred Costantino, a grandfather of 14 who was "still working like a laborer," according to his son. Michael A. Jones, 46, of Bridgeton, N.J., stole an Underwood-Memorial Hospital SUV from the Franklinville Fire Company in Franklin Township and plowed it into Costantino's vehicle at Holmes and Chestnut Avenues, according to authorities.

A Philadelphia police officer was injured yesterday after he tried to question two men wanted in connection with a slaying earlier in the day in Montgomery County. Richard Porter, 68, a widower and painting contractor, died in his one-story ranch house on the 400 block of Woodhill Road in Wayne, police said. Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said a cleaning woman found Porter's body at 10:45 a.m. He was lying on his back on the living-room floor, Ferman said, with multiple wounds to the face and neck.

The Camden Police Department has corrected inspection problems involving 25 of its vehicles, most of them Ford Crown Victoria cruisers, police and state officials said yesterday. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development cited the department in November for maintaining a hazardous workplace by failing to have the vehicles properly inspected as required by state law. Some had stickers that showed they had failed inspection. Others had expired stickers or none at all. One Ford van was overdue for an inspection that should have been performed in September 2002.

Both were fathers of three, one in pursuit of the other as their speeding cars dodged and weaved through the Poconos Sunday night, on opposite life paths. Pennsylvania State Trooper Joshua Miller, in the words of his commander, was "one of our shining stars, a top gun" of his Monroe County barracks here, a man who received commendations at least weekly for his work. Daniel M. Autenrieth was out of work and wrestling with drugs, court records say. Consumed by domestic strife, he had snatched his 9-year-old son Sunday evening and, as police gave chase, fled with the boy at high speed, armed with a gun. Both lives ended dramatically in a point-blank shoot-out along Route 611 near Tobyhanna.

Lights blazing, the entourage made its way down a sleepy Deptford street - four police vehicles, a motorcycle, and two other cars. Perched on the front seat of the first cruiser, the guest of honor smiled and waved. Gary Wurst was coming home. On the night of Dec. 27, Wurst, a Deptford patrolman, was on Delsea Drive when a sport-utility vehicle slammed into his cruiser and mounted its roof. The driver, Andrea Paton, 19, who had minor injuries, was charged with reckless driving and failure to maintain a lane.