Deli crooks
get pickled

By Diane Villano
Times Staff Writer

Two off-duty Philadelphia police officers were in the right place at the right time last month when they helped 8th district police capture two armed hijackers.
Both officers are members of the Strategic Intervention Tactical Enforcement unit, which works in high-crime areas of the city.
When not on duty, Officer Cynthia Perrone-Mission spends much of her time at Pickles Deli, 8121 Rowland Ave., a business she co-owns with fellow SITE officer Jimmy Keenan. That’s where she was on Sunday, Feb. 18, when she received a call from Cpl. Dennis Rosenbaum.
Rosenbaum had been visiting his mother, who lives in the neighborhood, when he came upon 8th district officers and a vehicle stopped at Winchester Avenue and Holmehurst Street, just off Rhawn Street.
He learned that two teens had confronted a 47-year-old man at gunpoint and tried to steal his parked car as the victim prepared for a jog through Pennypack Park. Rosenbaum asked Perrone-Mission to keep an eye out for the two suspects.
According to the victim, who requested that his name not be published, two black males walked by his 1999 Hyundai Elantra as he was parking and stopped behind the vehicle.
"When I got out of the car, they came up standing next to me, stuck a gun in my chest and said, ‘Give us your keys.’ I told them they were hidden in the car on the right-hand side," the man said.
As one youth looked for the keys, he passed the gun to his accomplice, who told the victim to get on the ground.
"As I was getting down, he turned, and I turned and ran to where the houses were," he explained. "There was a neighbor in his back yard who called 911.
"I hid in the bushes until the cops got there," the man said, adding that he feared the assailants would come after him.
He thinks the twosome were unable to take the car because of its stick-shift manual transmission.
"At first, you think this can’t be happening, and then the adrenaline starts flowing. I knew I didn’t want to get into the car with them. They were going to make me find the keys and drive them," the lifelong Northeast resident said.
While an 8th district police officer was taking the victim’s statement, Rosenbaum pulled up to the scene in his own car. Upon hearing what happened, he called Perrone-Mission at the deli to alert her and ask if she may have seen the teens near her store.
She hadn’t. Soon after, though, she saw them emerge from Pennypack Park across the street from the deli.
"I guess they figured they waited long enough and came out of the woods. I remembered what the corporal had said, called him and asked for the flash again," Perrone-Mission said, referring to details of suspect descriptions that are transmitted over the police radio.
Perrone-Mission got in her car and followed the teens up Welsh Road toward Holme Avenue. At about the same time, Rosenbaum saw the two walking on Welsh Road at Colfax Street, and he radioed their descriptions.
"As soon as the 8th spotted them, they took off running," Perrone-Mission said.
Officer Robert Auman saw the teens run across Holme Avenue and apprehended one of them, identified as Darren Williams, 18, inside a Sunoco station. The officer then chased the accomplice, later identified as a 14-year-old suspect, over a wall and apprehended him behind a 7-Eleven store.
The victim subsequently identified the two, who had his driver’s license and bank card but did not have the gun.
"I can’t say enough about the police. They were really dedicated and aggressive when they didn’t have to be," the victim said.
He wanted to urge people to trust their instincts in potentially troublesome situations.
"I knew they were there for no good," he said of the teens.
Williams was charged with nine offenses, including robbery, criminal conspiracy, robbery of a motor vehicle, simple assault, carrying firearms without a license, possession of an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person. He is free on $25,000 bail to await an April 20 preliminary hearing.
The 14-year-old was charged with carjacking, robbery, recklessly endangering another person, criminal conspiracy and possession of a firearm by a minor. During March 5 juvenile proceedings, he was judged delinquent and was scheduled for a March 13 dispositional hearing as the Times went to press.
"It sounds like here’s an example of Philadelphia police showing initiative and demonstrating that they are always on the job," said Capt. Benjamin Naish, a police spokesman. "Because of (corporal Rosenbaum’s) determination, police made an apprehension in this particular crime." ••
Reporter Diane Villano can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dvillano@phillynews.com