Philadelphia officer under investigation for leaving victim in street before fatal hit-and-run

A 48-year-old man lay dying in the street on Rising Sun Avenue in Philadelphia's Olney neighborhood, and the police officer who found him there chose to leave. Around 1:45 a.m. on a Thursday in late August, the man was walking unsteadily through the bike lane when a passing patrol car pulled over. The officer got out, spoke to him briefly, then returned to his vehicle and drove away—leaving the victim still prone on the pavement, half in the bike lane and half in the traffic lane.

What happened next was captured on surveillance video and would become the subject of a police department investigation that reached into its own ranks. A civilian witness approached the man on the ground, then walked away. One vehicle slowed, apparently to avoid him. A second car—a green Kia Sportage, model year 2023 to 2026—did not. It struck the man in the bike lane and kept going, heading eastbound on Tabor Avenue. Two bystanders pulled the victim from the roadway and called 911. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Philadelphia Police Department did not learn about the crash until later that morning, when the medical examiner's office called asking for details. That delay itself raised questions about how a fatal collision on a city street went unreported for hours. When investigators reviewed the surveillance footage, they saw something that deepened the scrutiny: the same officer who had spoken to the victim in those early moments was the first responder to arrive after the hit-and-run. And according to police officials, he did nothing.

First Deputy Commissioner John M. Stanford laid out the officer's inaction during a Friday afternoon press conference. The officer did not secure the scene. He did not start a report or launch an investigation. He did not provide medical assistance. He did not, it appears, even alert dispatch to what he had witnessed. "That goes against everything that we stand for," Stanford said, his tone measured but firm. "We talk about empathy, we talk about compassion as an organization, and none of those things were on display, and that's a troubling piece for us from the very beginning of this incident."

The officer, who worked in the 35th District and had two years of experience on the force, was placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Police have not released his name or the victim's identity. The department is actively searching for the driver of the Kia Sportage, asking the public for information about the vehicle and the person behind the wheel.

Two investigations now run parallel: one into the hit-and-run itself, a criminal matter with a fleeing driver still at large; the other into the officer's conduct, a question of whether someone sworn to protect and serve abandoned a person in need. Stanford called the incident "very disturbing," a phrase that seemed to acknowledge the weight of what the video showed—not just a tragedy, but a choice made in its shadow.