A police officer from Burholme was charged last week with insurance fraud related to an August accident in Summerdale.
April Shaynick, 42, surrendered to authorities on Dec. 5, according to the Police Department and the district attorney’s office.
Police said a car driven by Shaynick collided with another car on Aug. 9 at Van Kirk Street and Summerdale Avenue, but she did not stop to see if the driver and passenger of the 2003 Mazda Protégé were injured. Instead, police said, Shaynick drove to her Oxford Avenue home and filed a false accident report with Allstate Insurance Co. the next day, claiming someone had hit her parked car. She later received $4,000 from the company to pay for auto repairs.
Police said the Mazda’s driver was taken to a hospital with a knee injury.
There were several witnesses to the Aug. 9 accident, police said, including a pizza delivery man who snapped a photo of Shaynick’s license plate as she drove her 2004 Honda Civic away from the accident. Police alleged that Shaynick provided her insurance company with a police report that she wrote herself.
The officer was investigated by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the district attorney’s office. In addition to insurance fraud, Shaynick is charged with theft by deception, tampering with public records, leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, unsworn falsifications to authorities and false reports to law enforcement.
Shaynick is a 14-year veteran of the police department, assigned to South Philadelphia’s 1st district. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey suspended her for 30 days with the intent to dismiss, police stated in a news release. ••
