Man Pleads Guilty To Shooting Philadelphia Cop
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A 30-year-old man has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in May for shooting and nearly killing a Philadelphia police officer near Broad and Somerset in June of 2009. The shooting was caught on surveillance video.
Officer Ashley Hoggard and his partner were on patrol when they heard gunshots. They drove to the gunfire outside a bar. A bullet whizzed past officer Michael Alexander's head. Officer Hoggard was hit.
"You see him step into the street and he's shot almost instantly as he crosses between the parked vehicles into the street," Prosecutor Mark Levenberg said. "He retreats back to the sidewalk to take cover and attempt to walk back down toward his partner and collapses against the wall."
The shot, through the armhole of his bulletproof and into his chest, nearly killed Officer Hoggard. He may never fully recover, but he wants to return to duty to protect and to serve.
"No one should have to go through what I went through," Hoggard said. "If I could prevent that like the 7,000 other cops in this city that is doing it. It's just the love of the job."
Reported by Tony Hanson, KYW Newsradio
