The suspect in an armed robbery and assault Wednesday morning who shocked cops in Southwest Philadelphia with another officer's Taser was arrested and hospitalized after a scuffle in a vacant house.
Lt. John Walker, of the Southwest Detective Division, gave this account:
A 37-year-old woman was walking along Grays Avenue near 63rd about 7:30 a.m. when Alexander Wade, 25, of Southwest Philadelphia, approached her from behind, pistol-whipped her and demanded cash.
After taking $150 from the woman, Wade grabbed her, slammed her head against a nearby house and continued pistol-whipping her before fleeing the scene on foot.
The woman ran to a friend’s house and called police — who happened to see a man fitting Wade’s description on Glenmore Street near 65th.
Wade ran into an abandoned house on Gould Street near Woodland Avenue when police began chasing him, and cops trailed him to a bedroom on the second floor.
He fought three cops who were trying to subdue him and one of the officers eventually tazed him.
“It had minimal effect,” Walker said.
Wade snatched the cop’s Taser and shocked two other police officers who were trying to subdue him.
While the electrified cops writhed in pain, the officer whose Taser Wade was using grabbed another officer's Taser and used it to subdue him.
He was taken into custody and was hospitalized at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
The woman Wade assaulted was also taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was listed in stable condition Wednesday night. She’ll need stitches to close the gashes on her head.
Wade, of 66th Street near Greenway Avenue, will face charges of robbery, assault, reckless endangerment, weapons violations and others.
The police officers were not injured.
thats gangsta— rs1982- Reggie be kray— Uncle Sam
- The police station is right around the corner. I would go up Woodland ave to buy sneakers but I dont even do that anymore.— Black Label Society
- The public will continue to see that Tasers don't work on everybody.— Trident252
- Sounds like the "don't hurt the perp so he can be released in a few hours" technique didn't work. Lethal force was justified in this case. Better to be judged by 12 instead of being carried by 6. Hope the police shoot next time. Plenty of other felons around to do things different.— Nutball
Okay let me get this straight. Three cops try to subdue a bad guy. One cop tases bad guy, to no avail. Bad guy takes the taser away from the cop and tases the other two cops. Cop who had his taser taken from him takes a taser from a cop being tased and tases the bad guy again. Cocaine is a helluva drug.- Why on earth do we need to hospitalize these thugs who continuously prey on innocent citizens?— RufusG
- Should have shot him and put an end to him. Stop worrying what the liberal media and DN will write about you and the "excessive force on this poor man". If anybody grabs something off your belt, just take them out. The tax paying citizens in this city will thank you, regardless what the Daily News writes about you.— TakingAstand
- This guy should be on the cops and show them how to subdue people, cuz he put a hurting on those cops behinds and egos!! How are you gonna try to taser a perp and get your taser taken from you???— solobrutha
- sorry for the women.. but these cops sounds like wimps... seems like the tasers should have been used in other cases I believe the gun should have been first choice.. this guy displayed violent behaviors.. maybe it was female officers no offense— noncents
- A bullet to the perp would have worked better than the Tazer.— bling
- They tazed this guy IN THE FAAACE.— rationalnegativityphilly
- This POS had to be dusted out on PCP if the tazer had no effect on him and he still had the energy/stregnth to fight off multiple cops. Beware parents and citizens of the effects of this drug and how widespread it is in the city.— TomM
- The cops should have done the taxpayers a favor and moved on to lethal measures after a non lethal alternative didn't work. A bullet would have been much cheaper then this guys uPenn hospital stay.— 420-24-7
- Forget about that...why were doctors REPLACING the gashes on the woman's head?! Nice proofreading!— Billuminated
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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