Officer commended for service
LOWER POTTSGROVE >> A routine traffic stop led to a dangerous felon being taken off the streets, thanks to the “sixth sense” of one Lower Pottsgrove Police officer, according to Police Chief Michael Foltz.
Officer Scott Burnick was recognized for his service following an arrest he made last month at the March 6 township commissioners’ meeting.
On Feb. 19, at 8:26 a.m., Foltz said Burnick was on routine patrol monitoring a malfunctioning traffic signal at the intersection of Buchert Road and North Keim Street when he noticed a vehicle speed through the intersection without yielding to the flashing traffic signal, and almost hit two other vehicles.
Burnick decided to follow the vehicle and noticed several other traffic violations, so he pulled the vehicle over on Hale Street in Pottstown, Foltz said. There were two people in the car: a woman behind the wheel and a man in the passenger seat. That’s when Burnick’s “sixth sense” telling him something wasn’t right kicked in.
“Something about that male subject didn’t sit right and he asked for his identification,” Foltz said. The name the man gave wasn’t coming up in the police system, so he went back to the car a second time and asked the passenger more questions. He went back to his car to check the new set of information.
“His sixth sense is still kicking in,” he said.
The third time he goes back to the car he see the man getting information over the phone dictating a Social Security number that he should use. Foltz explained that the man was try-