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A local woman helped nab a man who eventually was charged with the pharmacy store attack that left a 1st District lieutenant with broken ribs.
Aug. 17, Tarrah Curcio was talking to a neighbor after returning from coaching a swim team at Barry Playground, 18th and Johnston streets, when she saw a man drive by on a red bicycle. She spotted him turning on a side street shortly before police flocked to the area. She described the man — later identified as Perry Martin, 42, of the 1700 block of South 28th Street — and inquired if he was who they were looking for.
“I pointed in the direction where he went,” she said. “I stood on the corner telling every cop.”
She then learned Lt. Douglas Stanford, a 29-year veteran of the department who was promoted from traffic sergeant two years ago, was assaulted at the Rite Aid, 1500 W. Moyamensing Ave., at 5:40 p.m. that day and was outraged.
“I had emotional feelings, as well as much respect for this lieutenant,” she said. “It was my natural adrenaline going crazy.”
Curcio, whose sister Melissa is a 3rd District cop, helped police in their search and her instincts took her down an alley, where she says she saw the bike-riding man turning his clothes inside-out. After greeting him, she ran to contact police.
As the man later deemed Martin, who has since been charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and related offenses, sped out of the alley, Curcio remembers yelling, “Stop that man. Stop that man. He’s the one that’s wanted.”
The 33-year-old who stands 5-foot-1 tossed her sandals aside and chased the man barefoot for five blocks. On the phone with 911, she told the operator of her pursuit block by block until she located police, but she had lost sight of the man.
Detectives interviewed Curcio and the following afternoon she identified the bike and Martin’s photo from an array. Martin was arrested at 3:55 that same day.
Stanford, who suffered three broken ribs, a bruised lung and a bruised skull, was released from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Aug. 23. SPR
Contact Staff Writer Amanda Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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