The Latest: Police kill unarmed driver fleeing traffic stop

PHILADELPHIA – The Latest on a police officer shooting during a Philadelphia traffic stop (all times local):

6 p.m.

The Philadelphia police commissioner says he’s concerned about tactics used during an overnight traffic stop that left an unarmed driver dead. It was one of two police shootings the same night.

Commissioner Richard Ross called it “an unfortunate incident all the way around.”

He says an officer was on foot when the driver refused to stop his minivan and then attempted to drive off following the stop just before 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Ross says the officer was trapped “between the car and some other area where he didn’t feel like he could escape,” and fired his weapon. Police say the vehicle struck several cars before coming to rest. They say no weapon was found in the vehicle.

The man killed has been identified as 52-year-old Richard Ferretti.

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2:45 p.m.

The police commissioner says he’s “not making any judgments” pending an investigation into the shooting death of a minivan driver by an officer during a northwest Philadelphia traffic stop.

Commissioner Richard Ross said the driver tried to flee the stop early Wednesday in the Overbrook neighbourhood and the officer “didn’t feel like he could escape” the oncoming vehicle.

The vehicle struck several cars before coming to rest. No weapon was found inside.

Ross said officers stopped the vehicle after a call from residents concerned about a man seen driving around the area.

The driver’s name hasn’t been released. Police are seeking more witnesses as well as surveillance video.

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This story has been corrected to note that events occurred just before 1 a.m. Wednesday rather than Tuesday.