An alleged assault by a group of teenage girls on another teen inside the Lincoln High School football stadium was the precursor to a wild pickup truck chase through the streets of Holmesburg on June 21 that ended when a truck crashed into a parked car outside of St. Hubert’s High School.
Police have announced no arrests, although they have questioned a 17-year-old boy in connection with the car chase. Investigators are working to corroborate elements of the victims’ accounts, said Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum of Northeast Detectives.
The first sign of trouble arose at about 7:30 p.m. when police were called to the Lincoln High stadium, at 7400 Rowland Ave., for a report of a robbery in progress. A 16-year-old girl told the officers that 10 other girls had beaten her up and tossed her down rows of bleachers. The attackers stole the girl’s iPod, tablet and wallet. The victim suffered bruises, cuts and scrapes throughout her body. She was treated at Aria Health’s Torresdale campus and released.
By 10 p.m., the victim and her 25-year-old woman cousin were in the area of Erdrick and Wellington streets where they saw a group of people that allegedly included some of the girls that had beaten the victim, Rosenbaum said. The victim called her father, who drove a 2002 Ford pickup to the scene to meet his daughter and her cousin.
A confrontation between the father and a young male took place. The father said that the young male flashed a gun at him, then tried to hit him with a shovel. The father, daughter and her cousin got into their truck and fled the scene. The suspected gunman and a passenger allegedly chased them in a 1992 Chevy pickup truck.
The trucks reached the 3100 block of Cottman, where the Chevy hit and spun the Ford. The Chevy then rammed the Ford head-on. The father drove in reverse northbound on Torresdale, but struck a parked car. The pursuing truck fled the area. Police later found it parked and unoccupied at Sheffield and Edmund streets. ••
