Police: Man crashes stolen taxi cab in Rittenhouse Square
PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Several hours after a stolen taxi crashed at the park in Rittenhouse Square all eyes were still on the scene. Bystanders watched a tow truck prepare to take it away Monday evening.
"He came from the passenger side," said Michael Emanual as he looked at his wrecked cab. He can’t believe how this happened. He says it started when he was dropping off a fare at The Carlyle on Locust Street. A man walked up to the cab and attacked the woman.
"He opened the passenger side door and grabbed her from the collar and dragged her from the street," said Emanual. When he and other bystanders ran to help the woman the suspect jumped in the cab and took off straight down Locust and into the park.
"As soon as we saw him everyone jumped into the bushes," Earnest Wilson. A viewer immediately recorded this video of the suspect screeching through.
"He drove into Locust Street from the pedestrian side. He drove all over the inside of Rittenhouse park through the park and came over and made a right and hit that white car over there and ended up right here," said Emanual.
A Fox 29 intern who heard the commotion from her apartment pulled out her cellphone in time to capture the suspect crash at the curb. Smoke billowed from the cab.
"I see this cab in the middle of the park and it was just barreling down," said intern Lindsay Weiner. Her video also shows people rush to the car to hold the suspect until police got there. Someone even captured a picture of an officer holding the suspect down on the ground. A witness says the man was naked and says he told them he was mentally ill and wanted to go to the hospital.
No one was hurt. Police say the suspect was taken to Hahnemann Hospital. His condition is unknown at this time.