A Shillington man faces several felony counts after Reading police said he seriously injured a man during a street robbery then, while fleeing in an SUV, struck three vehicles, including one occupied by a pregnant woman and her three young children.
Ali I. Abdur-Rahman, 36, of the 200 block of Philadelphia Avenue was committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail following arraignment Sunday before District Judge Sandra L. Fegley in Reading Central Court.
He faces charges ranging from robbery and aggravated assault to reckless endangerment, driving under a suspension and hit-and-run.
According to investigators:
Officers responded about 12:30 a.m. to the 100 block of South 10th Street for what was originally reported to be a large street fight. The first officer to arrive found a group in the middle of the street. A man was bleeding profusely from a wound to the back of his head.
Several people pointed to a black SUV that was stopped at the Chestnut Street intersection. They said the driver was the assailant.
The SUV turned left, and the officer reported the vehicle description and direction of travel to other responding officers. The victim told the officer he had been attacked by an unknown male as he was walking home from his place of employment.
He said his attacker approached him as he was walking south on the west side of the street and demanded he pay him money that was owed. The victim said he did not know what the man was talking about.
Abdur-Rahman hit him in the back of the head with an unknown weapon. The victim ran and was chased by Abdur-Rahman, who got into an SUV with the victim’s cellphone and wallet.
City fire department medics tended to the victim and transported him to Reading Hospital
A witness said a tall, thin, balding man wearing a black sweater got into a black Chevrolet Tahoe that was parked facing southbound in the 100 block of South 10th Street. He backed the SUV into that victim’s car, damaging it and fled. The other motorist took a picture of the fleeing vehicle’s license plate and shared it with the officer.
While the officer was talking to the witness, she heard a dispatch for a multivehicle crash with injuries at South 11th and Chestnut streets that involved a black Tahoe. A report came in that there were reports of multiple unconscious victims.
Another police officer dragged Abdur-Rahman from the driver’s seat of the Tahoe. The Tahoe had struck two unoccupied parked vehicles in the 1100 block of South 11th and collided with a moving vehicle driven by the woman with her three children aboard.
The woman, who suffered a broken collarbone and head injuries, was taken to Reading Hospital for treatment along with the children, ages 1, 4 and 6, who suffered various degrees of injury. Police withheld the names of the victims.
The woman told police from her hospital bed that she was northbound in the 200 block of South 11th on a green signal when her vehicle collided with a speeding Tahoe that ran the red light.
Source: Berkshire mont