False carjacking report leads to arrests

LOGAN (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police have two men in custody following a chasethat ended in a crash in the city's Logan section.

It started late Monday morning as officers responded to the report of a robbery at the Sunoco station on the corner of 18th and Belfield streets.

Officers spotted the suspects in a white Pontiac and attempted to stop them, at which time the suspects rammed into a responding officer's vehicle.

The Pontiac then took off and police engaged in a pursuit.

About a mile later the suspect's vehicle ran up over a median strip in the roadway and slammed into a line of parked cars on the 5700 block of Kemble Street.

The two men allegedly got out of the car and ran. One went behind a nearby apartment building. When he circled back to the street he was arrested by police.

Surveillance video from the apartment building shows that the man apparently grabbed a gun from his pocket and tucked it into his waistband. But when police arrested him he didn't have the gun.

When police caught up with the other suspect, who owns the vehicle, he claimed that he was the victim of a carjacking. However, police quickly determined that the two men know each other and that the carjacking claim was false.

Authorities say one of the men is very well-known to police. They say he has an extensive record of drugs and weapons offenses.

So far, no word on charges related to today's incident.