Pickup truck driver killed in crash with Pennsylvania state trooper in Old City: police
PHILADELPHIA - A crash involving a Pennsylvania State trooper and a pickup truck ended in tragedy under the Ben Franklin Bridge early Friday morning.
Police say troopers were responding, with emergency lights on, to a car crashed into a pole when a pickup truck made an illegal left turn into their path.
The troopers struck the truck on its passenger side at the intersection of Columbus Boulevard and Race Street around 1:30 a.m.
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The impact of the crash flipped the pickup truck over and crushed the front of the trooper’s vehicle.
Witnesses say they knew it was a bad crash as soon as they heard it.
"Glass everywhere, car parts. The car that was flipped over looked mangled like it was compressed in half. It was a bad scene," stated Desmond Austin. "We were just sitting there and you hear like a loud bang. It sounded kind of like a construction truck going over like a speed bump, or something like that."
The driver suffered fatal injuries, while two troopers were treated for moderate injuries.
Rasheed Izzard took cell phone video of the aftermath and an injured trooper is seen being helped away from the scene.
"Because you see that one side of the vehicle is smashed all the way down," Izzard described.
Police say the driver was the only person in the vehicle at the time.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article stated the crash was in connection to a police pursuit in the area, but police say that the trooper's vehicle was not in pursuit at the time of the crash.