Former City Controller Alan Butkovitz says he was carjacked outside his Northeast Philly home

Former City Controller Alan Butkovitz was carjacked at gunpoint Tuesday outside his Northeast Philadelphia home as he returned from a city Democratic Party committee meeting, the longtime public official said.

Shortly after 8 p.m., Butkovitz, 70, had just arrived home in his 2012 black Ford Fusion and was talking on the phone with a friend when he heard a banging on his driver-side window and saw a man wearing a black ski mask pointing a gun at him, Butkovitz said in a phone interview.

The assailant yelled, “Get the f— out!” Butkovitz said, adding that he thought he was about to get shot through the window.

Butkovitz said he got out and the unidentified man ordered him to get on the ground.

Then the man drove away with his car. The entire incident lasted “less than a minute, might have been seconds,” Butkovitz said.

“I’m still adjusting to being alive,” Butkovitz said on the phone as he was being driven by a friend to speak with detectives.

Carjackings have risen at a startling pace in Philadelphia and hit a record high in 2022. Police said more than 1,300 carjackings were reported last year, a 53% increase over the prior year and nearly six times the annual total reported just three years ago. In response, District Attorney Larry Krasner announced in December that his office would launch a carjacking unit.

» READ MORE: Carjacking continues to plague Philadelphia. Here’s how young carjackers say they get away with it.

Police and community members say the rise in the crime is fueled in part by young people using the cars for joyrides around the city or to commit additional crimes. Criminal justice experts have also pointed to the increased value of used cars, plus electronic key fobs and heightened vehicle security that require robbers to confront drivers for their keys.

Butkovitz, who served as city controller from 2006 to 2018, said he had just come home from a city Democratic Party policy committee meeting in Center City when he was carjacked.

Butkovitz said he called police and they arrived within a few minutes.

He said he scraped his knee and cut a finger but otherwise was OK.

A police spokesperson confirmed that Butkovitz reported the carjacking to police Tuesday night, and a police source confirmed that detectives were investigating a carjacking involving a 2012 Ford Fusion.

Late Wednesday afternoon, police said the investigation was ongoing and reported no arrest. The car remained missing.

Butkovitz is the city party’s finance chair and also leader of the 54th Ward. Before his time as city controller, Butkovitz served in the state House of Representatives for 15 years. He lost a primary race to keep his controller seat in 2017 and unsuccessfully challenged Mayor Jim Kenney in the 2019 mayoral primary.