Police car hits woman in North Phila.

Police car hits woman
* Broad Street and Girard Avenue, North Philly

A 26-year-old woman running to board a SEPTA bus was hit by a police car responding to a shooting at about 1:40 a.m. yesterday.

As the cop car, traveling north on Broad, approached the intersection, the woman ran across Broad into the car's path, police said. The cruiser hit the woman and mounted the center median. Its engine compartment then burst into flames.

Both officers safely got out of the vehicle, and were treated at Hahnemann University Hospital and released. The woman also was taken to Hahnemann, where she was admitted in stable condition with a possible broken arm and trauma to the torso.

The officers had been responding to a shooting at the Crab House Bar & Grill, on Germantown Avenue near Chelten, in Germantown. A 27-year-old man, who was shot once in his groin, told cops that a fight broke out after some women were disrespected in the bar.

He said that he tried to break up the fight, and was shot as he was leaving the bar.

Officer struck by car is stable
* Sansom Street near 10th, Center City

Officer Kim Kleposki, a 21-year veteran of the force who was struck by a car Friday night, was in stable condition at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital yesterday.

Meanwhile, police on Saturday arrested a 26-year-old woman in the case, at her Audubon, N.J., home. Her identity hasn't been released since she has yet to be charged while awaiting extradition to Philadelphia.

Police said that about 11 p.m. Friday, Kleposki and another officer were in a marked police vehicle blocking traffic on Sansom because of construction work there. That's when a gray Ford Focus, driven without headlights, turned onto the street.

After being stopped, the driver handed her license and registration to Kleposki, but when asked why her lights were off, the driver, who smelled of alcohol, began yelling at the officers.

Kleposki had her arm in the car when the driver pulled away, dragging her with the car. The officer got free, but then fell to the ground. The driver, who had a passenger in her car, continued to accelerate toward a crane on the street. She then placed the car in reverse, hitting and pinning Kleposki against the side of a construction trailer.

Police said the driver then pulled forward a little and backed up, hitting the officer again. She then fled south on 10th Street. Kleposki will require stitches to both her right arm and right leg.

Five car fires are ruled arson
* Cottage Street and Cheltenham Avenue, Wissinoming

The burning of five cars in Wissinoming early yesterday was the work of an arsonist, police said.

At 4:12 a.m., firefighters and police who responded to the scene for the report of cars on fire found four cars engulfed in flames on Cottage Street and a fifth on fire on Cheltenham Avenue, said police spokeswoman Officer Christine O'Brien.

O'Brien said that fire officials determined that a flammable liquid was poured on the vehicles and an open flame was used to ignite the fires. Detectives in the Northeast Detective Division were interviewing owners of the cars yesterday and investigating the fires.

A 1995 Honda, a 1999 Toyota, a 2001 Dodge, a 1997 Ford and a 2003 Ford were all torched, police said. Authorities haven't determined the connection between the vehicles, if any, or what liquid was used to ignite the fires.

Man shot and killed in Tioga
* Bellevue Street near 21st

A 23-year-old man, identified as Tyree Johnson, was shot and killed Saturday about 4:30 a.m. Johnson, of 24th Street near Jefferson, North Philly, who was shot twice in the chest, once in the right leg and once in the right thigh, and a 20-year-old woman, who was shot once in the right thigh, were taken in private vehicles to Temple University Hospital. Johnson was pronounced dead at 4:38 a.m.

Cops identify 2 men in robberies
* Temple University area, North Philadelphia

Police on Saturday identified two suspects in connection with a series of off-campus armed robberies near Temple University.

Police said Kevin Wilson and Timothy Ballard, both with arrest records, are wanted for five robberies that occurred Wednesday between 7:45 and 9 p.m. on 15th Street near Norris, Fontain Street near 19th, Carlisle Street near Thompson, Montgomery Avenue near 9th, and Franklin Street near Thompson.

Because some of the victims attended classes at Temple, campus police Friday e-mailed a warning to students to take precautions. The robbers were described as wearing blue-and-red or blue-and-black hooded sweatshirts. Temple police said they had beefed up patrols.

- Julie Shaw, Morgan Zalot and staff reports.