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Authorities: Man Falls Off Bike, Struck By Police Cruiser During Pursuit In Chester

CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) - Authorities say a man is dead after he fell off his bicycle and was struck by a police car during a pursuit Wednesday night in Chester, Delaware County.

It was around 8:20 p.m. when Chester City Police say they got a call that a person had been robbed of their cell phone and cash by a man with a gun.

"Members of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office were in the area doing a warrant sweep. They heard the radio dispatch and they encountered the 25-year-old suspect in the 1100 block of Pine Lane," said Chester Police Commissioner Joseph Bail.

According to the District Attorney's Office which is handling the investigation, the man took off on his bike and led police down narrow alleyways.

They say near the intersection of 13th and Keystone the suspect fell off his bike and was run over by a city police vehicle.

Authorities say a gun was found at the scene.

The man died at the hospital.

"We are limited in what we can say but we at least want to extend our condolences to the family from City Hall and the Chester Police Department," said Chester Mayor John Linder.

The mother of the man, who identifies him as Sherman Byrd Jr., tells CBS 3 Eyewitness News her son has never been in trouble before and that she believes police were pursuing the wrong man. She says she doesn't believe he was involved in a robbery, especially in his old neighborhood, where everyone knows one another.

"My son is not guilty of armed robbery, that's not him at all. He's a straight momma's boy," says the man's mother, Charlota Byrd. "For them to say that my son robbed somebody at gunpoint on Keystone Road when he knows everybody in that area...no, that's not true."

Charlota Byrd says her son was in the area visiting his daughter and attending his sister's high school graduation and that he lives in North Carolina. Byrd also says she moved her family from this area to North Carolina eight years ago to get away from the violence after a bullet came into her home's window.

The incident remains under investigation.

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