Philly Daily ran my Crime Beat column on the man who crashed his vehicle into a Philadelphia police station.
You can read the column via the below link below or the
following text:
Many people who are arrested and held by the police dream
of crashing out of the police station. But earlier this month, one man decided
to crash into a police station.
One would think that the lobby of a police station is one of the safest places one can be.
But according to the
Philadelphia police, Dieufort Joly, 26, drove his Hyundai Tucson into the lobby
of the 2nd Police District station on Castor Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia at
1:40 PM on April 21st.
I know the police station,
having been there several times regarding incidents that involved Defense
Department personnel when I did security work as a Defense Department civilian
at the nearby U.S. naval base on Tabor Road some years ago. I have stood in
that lobby waiting to see detectives, just like the six people who were in the
lobby when the car crashed through the glass front.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel at a press
conference said that the car crash was clearly a deliberate act.
“Based on what we’ve received so far, there’s nothing that would
indicate that the individual would be mad at police,” Bethel said to reporters.
“I don’t know what could have caused that other than somebody who’s in a
different state of mind.
“We are working with our terrorism task force;
we have been on the phone with our special agent in charge of the FBI. We’re
looking at all the angles, and we will make those determinations if it gets to
the threshold where it’s considered a terrorist act.”
Joly was arrested after he left his vehicle. He was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital
for treatment. The five people in the lobby were struck by debris.
“We are very, very fortunate today that those individuals were
not seriously injured,” Bethel said.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (DAO) announced they approved
the following charges for defendant Dieufort Joly:
Six Counts of:
- Aggravated Assault (F1)
- Recklessly Endangering Another Person (REAP) (M2)
- Simple Assault (M2)
One Count of:
- Risking Catastrophe (F3)
- Institutional Vandalism (F3)
- Criminal Mischief (F3)
- Possessing an Instrument of Crime (M1)
According to the DAO, exterior
footage shows Dieufort Joly driving down Castor
Avenue. “Joly made a hard right turn
into the entrance of the Police District Building and missed two wooden
barricades positioned in front. Interior video shows the vehicle, a 2007
Hyundai Tucson, break through the entrance of the building and come to a full
stop inside the lobby,” the DAO stated. “Once the vehicle stops, Joly exits the
driver’s seat and is eventually detained. Of the six complainants, no one was
seriously injured. Defendant Dieufort Joly has been arraigned, and bail is set
at $1.7 million dollars. This is an active and ongoing investigation.”
“The Philadelphia District Attorney’s
Office is specially assigning one of our excellent and more experienced
prosecutors to work collaboratively with our partners at the Philadelphia
Police Department,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner. “We
are committed to ensuring a fair, appropriate, and just outcome for
the terrible incident that occurred at the Police District Building.
Thankfully, no one experienced serious physical injuries, although the
emotional and mental impact is very real. Our thoughts are with the victims
impacted and our first responders who were in the building at the time. The
DAO’s Victim Services Team has begun making outreach to all those impacted
and ensure they are connected with resources and services.
"We understand how
traumatic this was for civilians, we understand how traumatic this was for
anyone in law enforcement who may have witnessed it or even heard the crash of
this vehicle," Krasner said. "This is not a vehicle that was moving 5
miles an hour. It was coming through the glass front of this new police
district at a high rate of speed."
"The video is shocking.
The video is terrifying, and frankly, it almost looks miraculous that there's
no one right in the immediate path," Krasner said.
Assistant District Attorney Angela Brennan, chief
of the DAO’s Major Trials Unit, added, “We will continue to work with our
law enforcement partners during this investigation and ensure
vertical prosecution from charging through each step of the criminal justice
process.”
Joly, who is from Hati, had his passport
taken from him.
Joly is being held on 10% of
$1.7 million bail,
Paul Davis’s Crime Beat
column appears here each week. He is also a contributor Broad + Liberty and
Counterterrorism magazine. He can be reached via pauldavisoncrime.com.
Note: You can read my previous Philly Daily Crime Beat columns via the link below:
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