Search continues for officer hit-and-run suspect

OLNEY - July 19, 2012 (WPVI) -- It's been a tough couple of weeks for the Philadelphia Police Department and it continued Tuesday night when an officer was hit and dragged.

At around 8:00 p.m., Chopper 6 HD was on the scene at 3rd Street and Olney Avenue even before paramedics could reach the injured 26-year-old Philadelphia police officer.

He wrenched in pain on the ground moments after investigators say a pickup truck he and his partners stopped ran over him.

"The individual started acting very suspiciously, making a lot of furtive moves inside the vehicle, so the officers, for their self-protection, asked the suspect to step out of the vehicle," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

Small said the suspect refused and took off at high rate of speed dragging the officer.

Paramedics rushed him to Albert Einstein Medical Center with a number of cuts and bruises to his body and a broken ankle.

"This officer was dragged one city block causing injuries from his head to his toe; it tore up his uniform," Small said.

Police say they know exactly who they're looking for because the suspect gave up his license and registration before the hit-and-run.

Officers found the Norristown man's Ford F150 in an alleyway on the 5600 block of Ormes Street abandoned.

They also recovered a handgun outside the truck, but they don't know if it belongs to the suspect.

"To take such drastic measures to get away, now that we know who you are, we believe there may have been something inside that vehicle or the suspect was wanted for some type of previous crime," Small said.

While police are not releasing the name of the 27-year-old suspect, they say he is recognizable because his entire upper body has tattoos.

Norristown police have been notified and Philadelphia police believe he will be in custody soon.

The officer, meanwhile, will be given a cast for a broken ankle.

Police are in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant and search warrant for a suspect in the case.

They have not released the suspect's name.

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