August 28, 2026
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Police are searching for a green Kia SUV that fatally struck a man who was lying in a bike lane early Thursday morning. Detectives are also investigating a Philadelphia police officer who stopped at the scene before and after the crash, and allegedly failed to provide aid or file a report.
Philadelphia police are searching for a vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash and investigating an officer who allegedly neglected to help the victim before and after the incident in Olney.
At 1:46 a.m. Thursday, an unidentified man was struck in the bike lane at the corner of E. Clarkson and Rising Sun avenues by an SUV that is believed to be a green Kia Sportage X-Line from 2023 to 2026.
In video from city cameras and nearby businesses, a man was seen walking in the bike lane with an "unsteady gait." An unnamed officer from the 35th District pulled up his patrol car and stopped to speak with him. The man then fell to the ground and the officer got out of the vehicle to talk to him. Then, he returned to his car and left, First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford said in a news conference Friday.
"At some point during that encounter, the officer goes back to his vehicle and the officer leaves that location with the victim still observed in the video laying in the street," Stanford said.
At that point, a person walked over to check on the man and a car stopped at the scene. Then, another vehicle drove into the bike lane to go around that car and drove over the man. The hit-and-run vehicle was last seen moving east on Tabor Road from Rising Sun Avenue, police said.
Philadelphia Police are searching for a green Kia SUV (above) which is believed to be involved in a fatal hit-and-run.
Provided Images/Philadelphia Police
A second person comes to the scene and they move the victim out of the bike lane and call 911. The officer who was seen previously talking to the victim returns, but he doesn't file a police report and instead waits for the arrival of medics. He didn't do any paperwork or conduct an investigation, Stanford said.
"What we can see on video doesn't fall in line with our practices, it is very troubling to see that there is an officer that responds to this location and fails to render any type of aid to the individual prior to the individual being struck by the vehicle, being run over by that vehicle, driven over by that vehicle," Stanford said. "That's troubling for us, it goes against everything we stand for."
Police didn't formally launch an investigation into the hit-and-run until the medical examiner reached out to the crash division, he said, and detectives realized that no report had been made.
Stanford called the incident "extremely disappointing" and said the officer, who's worked with the police department for two years, was removed from street duty and placed on administrative status. The Internal Affairs division will determine whether his body camera was on at the time.
Anyone with information about the incident has been asked to call the Crash Investigation Division at 215-685-3180.
