Police officer and driver injured in 2-car crash

A Philadelphia police officer is in critical but stable condition after an early-morning car accident yesterday in which each side blamed the other for the crash.

At 1:09 a.m., Officer Christopher Simone, a 12-year member of the force, was headed to Hahnemann University Hospital to assist security officers with a patient brandishing a box cutter when, police said, a car carrying three people slammed into his cruiser.

Police said Simone's cruiser - with emergency lights and siren on - was southbound on Broad Street when a car headed west on Spring Garden Street hit it, causing it to veer off the road and snap a traffic light before coming to a stop.

One of the three people in the car - who asked not to be identified - said there was no siren and that the cruiser broadsided them.

"We saw the lights right when we were about to crash," the 19-year-old passenger said, "but there was nothing we could hear. The sirens weren't on." The passenger said Simone's cruiser ran the red light and hit the front passenger side of the car, which spun into a tree.

Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said, "Everything indicates he was operating in an emergency mode, which would mean lights and sirens. I'm not going to say the witness was wrong, but at this time I don't have information that refutes it in any way."

Vanore said the accident was under investigation.

Since a multimillion-dollar court settlement in 1998 involving a South Philadelphia father and his infant son, who were killed by a speeding police car as they stood on a street corner, the Police Department has made significant efforts to improve driver instruction and reduce its motor-vehicle accident rate.

Those changes include increased driver training for recruits and freshman officers, including 60 hours of post-academy training with a supervisor, and up to five days of suspension for officers found to be reckless drivers.

At the time of the 1997 lawsuit, police documents showed that despite a 30 percent increase in police vehicle accidents since 1993, only one police accident in 10 resulted in any departmental punishment for the officers involved.

Documents also showed that since 1992, the city had spent about $29 million to settle 734 lawsuits or accident claims from police motor-vehicle accidents involving civilians.

Yesterday, police officials said they did not have data immediately available on the number of police-related car accidents since the 1998 settlement.

Simone, 32, unconscious when rescue workers arrived, was taken to Hahnemann in critical condition, suffering from broken ribs, a broken leg, and serious head injuries.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey visited the hospital to comfort Simone's wife and 5-year-old son.

"Everybody's sad," said Sgt. James DeAngelo, who has worked with Simone for about a year in the Ninth District. "Something like this, it's tough. . . . It's tough."

DeAngelo described Simone as "a great cop. He's very active. He's definitely one of the best cops in the Ninth District."

The driver and passengers of the car also were taken to Hahnemann.

The driver was in fair condition, police said. The two passengers were not admitted and police did not identify them.

Both cars were impounded until the investigation is complete, Vanore said, adding that no charges had been been filed.

"It's being handled as an accident," he said.