Police Car Set On Fire Outside 3rd District Station In South Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Another Philadelphia police car was set on fire overnight. It happened around 3 a.m. Wednesday outside of the 3rd Police District at 11th and Wharton Streets in South Philadelphia.
Most of the damage can be seen on the passenger side wheel well. That cop car has since been towed away and police say it is a total loss.
Police say they are investigating this as an arson as they now search for who did it.
Neighbors in South Philly were shocked to learn the car was set on fire.
"I think it's terrible that this is happening, you know? I don't know what to say. This is a terrible world," said Mary D'Arenzo.
D'Arenzo saw police car lights, but she lives near the station and says that's not unusual.
"That's all I saw was a red light. No fire engine, nothing. I didn't hear anything," she said.
The most recent incident comes after similar incidents last month, when four police vehicles were set on fire in West Philadelphia and Center City.
With this being at least the fifth cop car set on fire in two months, this incident now has some people who live here questing their own security.
"I live across the street from a police station. I feel safe, or at least I did. I don't know if I still do. I don't know with all the nonsense going on," D'Arenzo said.
Police say the suspect was caught on surveillance video. They say he fits the same description as the fires from July. He got away on a bike.
This comes after similar incidents last month, where someone set fire to four Philadelphia police cars in West Philadelphia and in Center City.
In all of the cases, the suspect was seen fleeing on a bicycle.
A woman who lives nearby tells Eyewitness News she's disappointed to hear this happened yet again.
"There's a lot of national turmoil right now so I guess I'm not really surprised if I'm going to be completely honest," resident Heather Gantz said. "It's still obviously very disturbing, but I would hope that some change can be made on a national level and hopefully we can kind of resolve some of the major issues that we have going on."
CBS3's Howard Monroe contributed to this report.
