Teen Shot On Walt Whitman Bridge Charged, Still In Hospital: Cops

PHILADELPHIA — Multiple charges have been filed against a teenager who was shot by two Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) police officers on the Walt Whitman Bridge after he stole a school bus in West Deptford and crashed it on the bridge, according to authorities.

The teenager, who has not been identified as of Monday, has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person (REAP) and possessing and instrument of a crime (PIC), according to DPRA Director of Corporate Communications Mike Williams.

He was shot by the officers after he reportedly came after them with a knife after they discovered the accident on the Walt Whitman Bridge heading into New Jersey from Philadelphia in the early morning hours of Monday, July 22, authorities said.

He is in stable condition at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) under guard by DRPA officers, the Courier Post reports, the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed Monday morning. The officers have been placed on administrative leave, Williams said.

DRPA is handling the investigation of the crash, while the Philadelphia Police Department are handling the investigation into whether the shooting was justified. West Deptford police are investigating the theft of the short school bus worth $60,000 from the lot of H.A. DeHart and Sons.

A West Deptford police officer noticed the school bus driving erratically on Route 44 at about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 21, according to West Deptford Police Chief Sean McKenna. The school bus had no license plate, and the officer gave pursuit, McKenna said.

The bus lead police on a high-speed chase on I-295, pulling over momentarily at Exit 21. When the officer stopped to approach the bus, the driver of the bus took off once again, McKenna said.

The chase resumed, but the officer called off the chase for safety reasons after the bus got off at Exit 25, hit a guardrail and kept going, McKenna said. West Deptford police then notified New Jersey State Police and DRPA, McKenna said.

It wasn't until 12:40 a.m. that DRPA police came across the crashed school bus, and a masked man leaving the scene, according to DRPA CEO John Hanson.

By then, the bus was on the eastbound side of the Walt Whitman Bridge heading into New Jersey from Philadelphia. It isn't clear what happened between the end of the pursuit in West Deptford and the time DRPA police came across the crash scene, Hanson said. However, he said there was no way the bus could have turned around in the middle of the bridge.

Hanson said when police first came across the masked man, he was armed with a knife, and he wouldn't comply with their commands. He didn't say anything to them, but he charged at them with the knife, prompting the shooting, Hanson said. Two officers fired shots, and Hanson wasn't sure how many times the teen had been shot.

"The officers discharged their weapons to protect themselves from being attacked by a man with a knife," Hanson said.

After the shooting, the officers recovered the weapon and immediately administered first aid before the teen was taken to the hospital, Hanson said. The knife was confiscated.

Story by Anthony Bellano