Another Philadelphia Police Officer is dead.
About 10:30p.m. last night, Sgt. Timothy Simpson, of the 24th District, was responding to a call of an armed robbery on Aramingo Avenue near Clearfield Street when he was struck by a vehicle, police said. Around Allegheny Avenue, police said the driver, who rode in a black Camaro, collided into Simpson's cruiser. Simpson was transported to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11:05p.m. Police have in custody two men, one in his 30s, the other in his 40s. Both men may be from out of town, said spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.
Family members and police officers crowded around the entrance to the hospital where they consoled each other, devastated by another death in a police department still coping with the loss of the recently slain Officer Patrick McDonald, who was gunned down in North Philly last month, and Officer Isable Nazario who also died as a result of a car crash. Mayor Nutter, along with Commissioner Charles Ramsey, said they're shaken by the death.
"This department has had a significant amount of tragedy this year, last year and the year before," said Nutter. "We are deeply hurt, deeply saddened. Officers are feeling significant amount of pain as the rest of us in public service."
Commissioner Ramsey chimed in and offered a few words of consolation to Simpson's wife and three children.
"This is surreal this many [officers] to die in such a short period of time," said Ramsey. "It's ironic that just early today we were unveiling a mural of three officers of the 35th District that died, now we have another that's fallen. A sargeant from the same district as Steve Liczibinski. It's tragic so our hearts are out to the family and to the men and women of the 24th District.
This is why it's a bad idea to cut PPD's highway patrol just because the state has guys here. We need all hands on deck, especially with the holidays coming up. Drunk driving is a huge public safety hazard, much more likely to impact ordinary lives than homicide, statistically. Can we afford to slight this effort?— CleanupPhilly- I urge voters to support the bills in Harrisburg that 1. Eliminate parole for any violent offender convicted of rape, robbery, murder, aggravated assault, or any crime with a gun. 2. Eliminate early release programs for offenders convicted of a violent crime or a crime involving a gun. 3. Require that all mandatory five year sentences for gun offenses be served consecutively and not concurrently with sentences for other crimes. Police, their families, and the union have to get behind advocacy that will save lives, including those in the PPD. More info: http://johnperzel.com/?sectionid=268§iontree=268&itemid=1150— CleanupPhilly
Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.
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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.
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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.
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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.
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