/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/4VTHV5MAEJBPLN6ZUX7BB2W3CE.jpg?ssl=1 "Man killed after Pa. State Troopers crash into pickup truck in Old City")
A man was killed in Old City early Friday morning when Pennsylvania State Police troopers on their way to assist other officers struck his pick-up truck with their patrol car, authorities said.
The crash happened at Columbus Boulevard and Race Street shortly after 1:30 a.m., said Capt. Gerard McShea, commanding officer of Pennsylvania State Police Troop K. The two troopers were traveling south on Columbus Boulevard when the driver of the pickup truck, who was traveling north on Columbus Boulevard, made an illegal turn onto Race Street and the troopers’ vehicle hit his truck, McShea said.
The driver of the pickup truck, whom authorities did not identify, was pronounced dead at the scene. The two troopers — a man and a woman — sustained non-life threatening injuries and were released from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital after being treated.
It is unclear how fast either vehicle was traveling at the time of the crash.
The troopers were on their way to assist other officers who were pursuing a person they were trying to take into custody, said McShea. That pursuit ended when the person being sought crashed and was apprehended, he said.
The fatal incident Friday morning was the latest crash involving Pennsylvania state troopers.
In April, four people, including a pregnant 17-year-old girl, were killed in a car crash while fleeing state troopers who were pursuing the vehicle in which they were riding after a reported theft at a Lululemon store in Concord Township, Delaware County.
And in February, state troopers chased after four people who allegedly stole $5,000 worth of merchandise from the same Lululemon store and fled in a Subaru. That pursuit ended when troopers deliberately hit the vehicle with their own, bringing it to a stop. Nobody was injured.
Last year, 16 people died in chase-related crashes involving state police, agency data shows — the most since at least 2015, the last year the data was publicly available.
