Philadelphia police on Saturday identified a man suspected of carjacking and kidnapping the family of a pizza delivery boy in Philadelphia on Friday night, captured by dozens of police officers after a high-speed police chase.
Police identified the man as Marcel Jenkins, 33, from Strawberry Mansion. They say he was behind the wheel of a fleeing car in a chase, which ended shortly before midnight after haphazardly driving across Franklin Square on the border of Center City and Northern Liberties, just a block from the Police Headquarters. the city.
One man reportedly carjacked a pizza baker with his family inside, dumped the vehicle, carjacked another, and led the Philadelphia police on a rapid chase down I-95 and the streets at the surface. Police say he even drove into their headquarters parking lot and turned them around.
Jenkins was towed out of the vehicle by police officers at around 11:15 p.m. by Captain Nicholas DeBlasis of the Philadelphia Police Department said officers had to use their stun guns to subdue the suspect.
Later Saturday, prosecutors charged Jenkins with three counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree carjacking, second-degree assault of a police officer, five counts of criminal mischief, and other related charges from Friday night’s incidents.
A spokesman for prosecutor Larry Krasner says Jenkins is being held on $ 750,000 bail and will undergo a court-ordered mental health evaluation.
The man who was later identified as Jenkins also raced up Interstate 95 for a while before continuing to the above-ground streets. At one point, the suspect even went to the police station parking lot, made donuts and gave officers the middle finger, DeBlasis said.
NBC10’s SkyForce10 was live and followed the chase, which lasted in the park about 20 minutes before the end.
The pizza delivery man and his family were not harmed. They were not in the vehicle involved in the police chase, police said.
A pizza delivery boy making a stop near North Broad Street and Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia had his worst nightmare come true. Someone hijacked him and kidnapped his wife and two young children, police said. NBC10 reporter Drew Smith has the story of the kidnapping before the suspect led police on a chase around town.
The first carjacking and kidnapping took place around 8:30 PM during a stopover by a delivery person in front of one of the City View pizza shops. The pizza man got out of his car near North Broad Street and Erie Avenue, then the car thief jumped in.
But the pizza delivery’s wife and two young children aged 2 and 4 were still in the car.
They were eventually found unharmed by police about two hours later.
While officers were still looking for the car thief after the kidnapping, they received a call about a crash at the intersection of 21st and Spring Garden streets, DeBlasis said. The suspect had apparently chased a woman before getting out of the first car, threatened to shoot the woman and then take off in her car, the captain said.
Officers quickly found a second vehicle that the suspect allegedly stole, and then the chase began.
It snaked through the old town, sometimes in the opposite direction of one-way streets and for a short period on Interstate 95. At one point, two police vehicles collided with each other while pursuing, DeBlasis said.
The chase eventually ended in Franklin Square near police headquarters, where the man drove into the snow before officers ran out of their cars, swarmed him, and dragged him out.
Despite the chaos, no one was injured, DeBlasis said.
This defendant was very rude. We are very happy with the result, ”he said.