Driver fatally shot after striking police officer with their car in Crescentville

A police officer was struck by a vehicle and fired his gun at the driver, who was later found critically wounded in an alleyway Thursday night in the city’s Crescentville section and later was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said the 25th District officer was on patrol by himself when he attempted a traffic stop of a Ford Lincoln sedan at Roosevelt Boulevard and F Street.

Around 7 p.m., the officer stopped the sedan on the Adams Avenue Bridge near Newtown Avenue, Bethel said.

Three independent witnesses told police that the sedan backed into the officer’s patrol vehicle, Bethel said. As the officer approached the sedan, it moved and pinned him against a wall, Bethel said. The officer then fired several shots into the sedan.

A passenger exited the sedan and was detained by the three witnesses, Bethel said. The officer was transported to Jefferson Einstein Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition with injuries to his legs, Bethel said.

A short time later, the sedan was found in an alley behind the 200 block of Benner Street, Bethel said. The driver had been shot in the head and body. He was transported to Einstein, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver was not identified.

The officer, who was not named, has been with the department for about eight years, Bethel said.

The incident remains under investigation.

Photographer Elizabeth Robertson contributed to this article.