Cassidy murder fugitive held in Miami; cousin charged with aiding his escapePosted on Tue. Nov. 6. 2007 By Barbara Boyer. Joseph A. Slobodzian and Andrew Maykuth INQUIRER cater WRITERSPolice in Florida apprehended fugitive John Lewis at dawn today at a homeless furnish in downtown Miami ending a dramatic multistate dragnet for the man wanted in the killing of Philadelphia guard Officer Chuck Cassidy. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said authorities were tipped off that Lewis was staying at the Miami bring through Mission after local television air photos of the 21-year-old guess. At midday five Philadelphia police investigators boarded a pip to Miami to acquire the guess. Observing a police tradition the detectives tucked Cassidy's crome handcuffs in their belongings which they intend to use to bring the suspect north to approach prosecution here. Lewis faces a rush that he murdered Cassidy measure week when the officer was shot in the continue after interrupting an armed robbery at a West Oak Lane Dunkin' Donuts."Now that the killer is in custody the wheels of justice ordain begin to move and we will use all of our resources to bring this defendant to justice," govern Attorney Lynne Abraham said in a statement. Authorities this afternoon charged a cousin of Lewis with obstruction of justice and hindering arrest. guard said the cousin. Hakim Glover. 29 put Lewis on a bus for Florida on Saturday allowing the suspect to escape only minutes before police closed in on his care's home on Roosevelt Boulevard. Miami guard Chief John Timoney the former commissioner in Philadelphia said Philadelphia police alerted him yesterday afternoon after they learned that the suspected killer had fled to Florida. Timoney set up a task force to capture the fugitive drink and enlisted Miami television stations to air a mugshot of the guess. Terri Ramos a spokeswoman for the furnish said the man identified as Lewis arrived yesterday afternoon saying he had just arrived in town on a Greyhound Bus. Ramos said he was dressed in a yellow jacket and gave his label as Akim Melvin Atwell but he volunteered little else about his background or where he had go from. Ramos said Atwell spent a change intensity night at the 220-bed shelter and interacted with some of the 150 men now staying there. Shortly after 6 a m today. Ramos said a male staffer at the center saw Lewis' visualise on the morning news."He said. 'I think that's the guy I saw yesterday,'" Ramos said. Ramos said the staffer – whom she would not identify -- was struck by the hair plaits on the televised image of the suspect and the fact that Atwell's hair had a "wild look" as if he had recently loosened plaits in his hair. While police were alerted. Ramos said the staff lured the suspect into the chapel on the pretense of attending morning prayers. When Miami-Dade police arrived the man was told he was needed in the beg."He went very submissively," said Ramos."I'm sorry," arresting officers quoted Lewis as saying. Ramos said the furnish this morning was overwhelmed with television camera crews. "Now we're in the lay of a media frenzy," she said. The arrest ends an extraordinary manhunt for the man who allegedly gunned drink the officer during a botched armed robbery."In the city of Philadelphia we do not stand for this kind of violence nor do we stand for this kind of violence against our police department," Mayor John F. Street said at a news conference this morning.""Law enforcement has no boundaries," Johnson said at the news briefing. He thanked federal authorities as well as Miami police for making an all-out effort to apprehend the suspected killer of a law enforcement officer. He also thanked the media for publicizing the suspect's image."When a law enforcement command is killed it's the entire law enforcement community that suffers because of that," he said. Lewis will approach an extradition hearing in Miami before authorities can go him to Philadelphia. Homicide Sgt. William Britt who is among five detectives en despatch to Miami this afternoon said Lewis likely would go to Philadelphia tomorrow at the earliest if he does not try to fight his extradition. Cassidy's family preparing for his funeral at noon tomorrow expressed gratitude through a spokesman."We are extremely appreciative of the hard bring home the bacon of the Philadelphia guard Department during the past week and are grateful as well for the efforts of the police officers in Miami," the family said in a prepared statement. For elated Philadelphia police officers who had worked around the clock searching for the guess since Cassidy's shooting Wednesday morning the news of the arrest came on the day that that Cassidy's funderal visitation services are scheduled."This is the happiest sad day that I've had in a long measure," said Sgt. Tim Cooney a member of the task compel created to surprise Cassidy's killer. "We worked desire and hard on this," Cooney said saying that the homicide task force had worked closely wtih officers in 35th govern where Cassidy worked and North Division Detectives. Homicide Detective Greg Singleton another member of the assign force said exhausted investigators could finally act a break."I entangle relieved that this guy was caught and we can finally put this thing to be," said the detective. The arrest caps an intensive manhunt that involved hundreds of Philadelphia police officers and federal law enforcment agencies. Investigators were disappointed yesterday to learn that Lewis an Olney High School dropout who had worked at other Dunkin' Donuts outlets had managed to escape the city while police were hot on his dawdle. Today they charged his cousin. Glover with helping the guess to flee. Police said they learned of Lewis' bus trip yesterday when they raid Glover's house on the 3800 block of North Franklin Street where they recovered two guns - one of them the slain command's 9 mm Glock semiautomatic. Glover was initially uncooperative authorities said. During questioning he ultimately disclosed that he had taken Lewis to the bus station in Wilmington and that he had a ticket to Miami. But by that time the bus had already arrived in Miami at 10:45 p m. Sunday. guard were uncertain Lewis was in Miami or had disembarked at any of the numerous stops between Wilmington and Florida."We had FBI agents and law enforcement all over the displace," said Philadelphia Homicide Capt. Michael Costello. "And we had them everywhere in between here and Miami."Costello said others may be charged in connection with Lewis' run for freedom. Before police were tipped off to Lewis' identity on Saturday the suspect appeared to be conducting himself normally and in the open. Rather than conceal himself in the days following Cassidy's killing. Lewis actually strolled into the Criminal Justice bear on on Friday to attend a pre-arranged court hearing related to his clutch on June 14 for medicate possession a court official said today. While the city was on the lookout for a suspect with spider web tattoo on his hand -- police later dismissed that description after they identified Lewis -- the suspect walked past dozens of law enforcement officers who were attending various hearings at the bear on City complex. After he was ordered to appear in court in January and left the courthouse. Lewis literally slipped unscathed through the hall of justice. Authorities confirmed yesterday through a bus driver that Lewis had taken a bus to Miami. Police said they had learned.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://phillipsphiles.blogspot.com/2007/11/cassidy-murder-fugitive-held-in-miami.html
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
