Retired ER doctor struck by officer in Philadelphia police car dies from injuries
Suzanne M. Shepherd, 69, was struck at Ninth and South Streets on Tuesday.
A retired emergency medicine physician and professor who was struck by a Philadelphia officer driving a city police vehicle Tuesday died later that day, police said.
The officer hit the woman near Ninth and South Streets shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, police said. The officer was driving east on South Street and hit the pedestrian when making a left turn onto South Ninth Street, police said.
The woman, who was later identified as Suzanne M. Shepherd, 69, suffered multiple injuries and was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She was pronounced dead just before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Michele Margolis, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was walking near Ninth and South Streets on Tuesday morning when she saw a person on the ground, a foot or two from the crosswalk. She saw a black van with what appeared to be rear flashing police lights stopped next to the person. Margolis said there were no police markings visible on the left side of the vehicle.
Police would not say if the vehicle that hit Shepherd was marked or unmarked, or if the officer flashed the vehicle’s lights or turned on its sirens ahead of the hit.
Two people exited the van, one wearing a vest marked Bomb Squad and the other one wearing a vest marked Counterterrorism, said Margolis. The two people then attended to the person on the ground.
Police did not release the name of the officer who was driving the vehicle, saying that the department does not identify drivers of a striking vehicle unless they flee the scene or are arrested. The officer, who was on duty at the time, was placed on 30 days of non-driving status, police said.
Shepherd was a retired ER doctor and a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine said in a statement. She was the first woman promoted to full professor in the university’s emergency medicine department and in her 23 years with Penn Medicine, she had numerous roles, including director of Penn Travel Medicine and residency director.
Shepherd was also the department’s chief education officer and chaired the department committee on appointments and promotions.
“Suzanne was a teacher, mentor and friend to many of us in the emergency department and beyond,” the department said in a statement.
David Rucki was devastated to find out he had lost his friend Shepherd, who in her retirement became a full-fledged artist, gardener, and a foodie who truly loved Philadelphia.
Rucki learned about Shepherd’s death Wednesday morning.
She was “such an interesting person,” Rucki said Thursday. “Such a life well-lived.”
Rucki and Shepherd would text weekly, with Shepherd giving Rucki recommendations on the best restaurants in the city and gardening tips. After recently retiring, Shepherd had been drawn to creative hobbies, said Rucki, taking up watercolor painting and photography.
The sudden loss of someone who had become like family was crushing, said Rucki.
“She was just such an interesting woman. Such a wonderful, interesting, vibrant. It’s so tragic,” said Rucki. “I miss her. I just wish I could talk to her again.”