Man Involved in Home Depot Theft Flees Scene, Drives into Cop Car

BROOMALL–On Jan. 12 at approximately 8:40 p.m., were on patrol when a report came in for a theft in progress at the located on Reed Road in Broomall.

According to the incident report, police made contact with the complainant who told police that a black truck with three men had just made a right turn on Reed Road that was heading towards Eagle Road.

Police were able to catch up with the vehicle and activated their emergency/siren lights to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle, in which the vehicle quickly sped up at a high rate of speed, nearly striking a vehicle in oncoming traffic, according to the report.

According to the report, the vehicle’s backend began to swerve back and forth, eventually causing the vehicle to begin sliding sideways on Glendale Road. In addition, the passenger's side door struck a traffic sign on the right side of the road, and then the vehicle’s frontend struck a guard rail on the left-hand side of Glendale Road, reported police.

The vehicle then spun around and headed on Glendale Road back towards Burmont Road in Havertown. When police pulled ahead of the vehicle with another police car behind the vehicle to attempt to make a stop, the vehicle again sped off at a high rate of speed, smashing into the passenger’s side of the front police vehicle and continued on Burmont Road towards Steel Road in Havertown, according to the report.

As the vehicle continued on Burmont Road, it then traveled onto the front lawn on the 1600 block of Burmont Road. The driver continued to attempt to flee as the vehicle’s tires were spinning and spraying mud everywhere, said police.

Police pinned the backend of the truck with the police vehicle to keep the vehicle from fleeing again. Police then drew their gun on the driver and ordered the driver to shut off the engine, according to the report.

The driver eventually relented and was arrested with the help of assisting officers and taken to Haverford Township police station.

Upon further investigation, police learned from a few witnesses that the two men with the driver were observed running out of the Home Depot's contractor exit towards a black truck parked near the MAB building, pushing a shopping cart full of unpaid merchandise.

When a witness approached the vehicle, the two men fled into the woods and the truck fled on Reed Road. The merchandise was valued in total of $3,002.26.