Three children and a woman died after being struck by a car involved in a chase between police and suspected carjackers in the Feltonville section of Philadelphia, police said.
The car crashed into the victims at Third and Wingohocking streets around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey were at the scene, trying to calm down the angry and tearful crowd.
The victims were identified as Latoya Smith, 22, who died early Thursday of her injuries, and her daughter, Remedy Smith, 1, died Wednesday night shortly after arriving at the hospital. Aaliyah Griffin, 6, a relative of Smith’s, and Gina Marie Rosario, 7, a neighbor’s daughter, were dead at the scene, pinned under the wrecked car.
The alleged driver of the car who killed the four people was left partially paralyzed by the crash, police said. The suspect, Donta Cradock, 18, remained hospitalized at Albert Einstein Medical Center with injuries sustained in the crash.
“The word we got is that he is paralyzed from the waist down,” said Sgt. Bob Wilkins of the Homicide Division. Cradock would not be arraigned on criminal charges until his condition stabilized, Wilkins said.
Cradock’s stepbrother and alleged accomplice, Ivan Rodriguez, 20, was formally charged yesterday with four counts of murder, four counts of homicide by motor vehicle, conspiracy, robbery, gun charges and other offenses, police said. He is being held without bond.
Be the first to comment