Sharon Hill police to get new cop cars after accidents

SHARON HILL >> The Sharon Hill Police Department will replace two of its patrol cars due to recent accidents involving on-duty police officers.

Sharon Hill Borough Manager Bill Smith said Monday that two of the department’s Ford Taurus patrol vehicles will be replaced at the start of 2019 following two accidents that occurred in the last month.

The first accident occurred at the Sharon Hill-Folcroft border at Chester Pike and West Burton Lane the evening of Oct. 27. An officer was on Chester Pike responding to a call, reportedly in Folcroft, when a car making its way on to the pike forced an officer to avoid hitting it and crashed into the storefront of Leo’s Steak Shop at that intersection.

The officer was not seriously injured but Leo’s has been closed for business since then. General contractor The Bethany Group has been working on the store for the past week to get it back up and running. Leo’s employees and customers were not hurt in the accident, either.

The second accident occurred at approximately 3 a.m. on Nov. 8 when an officer on patrol was hit by a motorist. The officer was not injured in this accident.

Smith said the officers were not found to be at fault in either accident in investigations conducted by Folcroft police (to eliminate bias for police-involved car crashes another department conducts an independent investigation). The matter is not being dealt with their insurance agents.

Sharon Hill Police Chief Richard Herron and Folcroft Police Chief William Bair could not be reached for comment Monday. A Right to Know request was filed with Folcroft on Monday asking for copies of the investigation reports.

The two totaled cars left three working vehicles in the department’s fleet, but older police cars have been brought back in service to retain a five-vehicle force.

Smith said the two vehicles were due to be replaced soon anyway since they were reaching their five-year operational window of duty with the borough. A third vehicle is also slated to be replaced for the same reason. Money has already been budgeted for the purchase of the vehicles, Smith said.

The department is said to have not had a dip in police service to the borough with the shuffling of automobiles.