Police: Woman's leg severed in Nicetown hit-run
A woman lost a leg when an SUV was deliberately crashed into her just outside her Nicetown house Friday afternoon, police said, and when her relatives rushed outside to help her, leaving food cooking on the stove, the family's home caught fire.
A woman lost a leg when an SUV was deliberately crashed into her just outside her Nicetown house Friday afternoon, police said, and when her relatives rushed outside to help her, leaving food cooking on the stove, the family's home caught fire.
Police, fire, and city officials swarmed the 4400 block of North 17th Street amid a chaotic scene as Beatrice Spence, 24, was rushed to Einstein Medical Center.
The driver of the SUV that hit her had driven off, shedding parts as the vehicle raced down Wingohocking Street, police said.
Police Lt. Dan Brooks said Spence and her alleged attacker had been involved in a feud for about a day. The SUV drove onto the sidewalk, he said, and crashed into the victim, who was standing in front of her home as her family cooked dinner inside.
The leg was severed in the impact, Brooks said.
Jayson Massey, 37, who lives across the street, said he was upstairs when he heard the "revving of an engine and then a bunch of screaming."
He ran downstairs to see what had happened and saw an unconscious Spence lying on one side with a mangled leg. Her mother was kneeling next to her, trying to revive her.
Massey said the SUV had rammed Spence against the front of the house.
He said the Spence house and a neighboring residence were sealed by the city Department of Licenses and Inspections because of the fire damage.
He described Spence as an "everyday nice girl, outgoing, friendly," who grew up in that house, and lived with her mother and some younger female relatives.
Neighbors said Spence and the SUV's driver were involved in a dispute about a man, according to Massey.
Police officers from the 39th District, responding to the scene, used department-issued tourniquets to treat the woman before she was taken to Einstein Medical Center, Brooks said.
In the chaos after the crash, the home's kitchen caught fire. Firefighters in an engine truck, who had been dispatched to the scene, put out the blaze, but the house was gutted, Brooks said.
A litter of kittens was rescued from the house, he said.
Police are searching for the driver and her vehicle, described as a white SUV, and Northwest Detectives were interviewing several witnesses Friday night.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call Northwest Detectives at 215-686-3353.
215-854-2961 @aubreyjwhelan