Uber passenger killed in crash involving suspect fleeing arrest in North Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Surveillance video from a local business captured the crash that killed a 63yearold woman early Monday morning, police said.

The woman was riding as a passenger in an Uber when the collision occurred just after 7 a.m., according to Philadelphia Police.

Joey Johnson, who was walking nearby in North Philadelphia, saw the crash. "Boom, hit. It sounded like a bomb just went off," he said.

Police said the 51yearold Uber driver was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover.

Video from the scene shows a man getting out of a Nissan Maxima immediately after the crash and running away.

Investigators said they are searching for that man, identified as 35yearold Joseph Cini.

Authorities said minutes before the crash, the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office attempted to serve Cini with a domestic assault warrant about a halfmile away on North Watts Street, but he fled.

Julius Mims, who works at Girard Beer Distributors, saw the surveillance footage.

"What I make of what happened was the cops were chasing after somebody - I mean, they weren't pursuing real hard, but the guy was flying," he said. "The person that was on the side street right here on 9th Street - they pulled out right in front of him."

"They were flying down the street," Johnson said of the driver. "I don't know what it is about this strip that makes people just fly," he said.

Several residents told Action News the intersection has long been dangerous. Mims said safety improvements are overdue.

"This area needs a stop sign, or it needs cameras. It needs something really, really bad," he said. "Because the kids get out of school down the street, and they walk across 9th Street every day."

Police have not released the victim's name.

Cini remains wanted on the domestic assault warrant and for his alleged role in the fatal crash.

Police ask anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the Crash Investigation Division at 215-685-3181. Tips can also be submitted anonymously by calling or texting the PPD's tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477).