Philadelphia police detectives who work with federal agents to serve warrants were out to arrest a man for a February aggravated assault. They got their man, but not before he crashed his vehicle into a police cruiser.
Two officers from the 18th Police District were injured when the suspect's minivan, being pursued by the undercover detectives, slammed into their car. It happened at 46th and Spruce about 11:30am. The officers were not badly injured. The fugitive and a female passenger were taken into custody. He is identified as 38-year-old Ronald Akes of West Philadelphia.
"This male was obviously attempting to get away from police," said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore. "He was a wanted individual, he had 17 prior arrests. These go back to 1991 for aggravated assaults, there's a weapons charge, there are drug charges, there are fraud charges. He's obviously been through our system many times."
The accident was in some ways reminiscent of two tragic crashes in recent months. One claimed the life of Sgt. Timothy Simpson, the other Patrol Officer Isabel Nazario. This time the patrol car sustained heavy damage, but the officers were treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and released.
As for the fugitive: "In this situation, no one was seriously injured, and we're very lucky," said Vanore. "This individual was taken into custody, there was somebody else with him. It will be looked at to see if that person will be charged in this case."
Ronald Akes will face additional charges including eluding police and aggravated assault in connection with today's crash.
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