Updated: 6:30 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia man has been arrested for allegedly pointing a gun at a driver and head-butting her after smashing in the rear window of her car and covering her two young children with broken glass in Center City over the weekend. Police say widely shared video of the incident drew many tips from the public that led to the arrest.
The District Attorney’s Office and Philadelphia Police Department on Wednesday announced charges against 26-year-old Cody Heron: possession of an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person, and several counts of aggravated assault.
They say Heron tried to disguise himself online, changing his name and address, in an attempt to hinder the police investigation.
“The defendant in this case changed some of the social media, we believe, and put up a name and some of his pictures with a name that was not his,” said First Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.
Tips from the public and “outstanding detective work” led investigators to Heron's home in Frankford, Vanore said.
The incident at the center of the arrest happened Sunday night outside City Hall. According to the District Attorney's Office, Heron was riding through Center City with a large group of people on motorcycles and ATVs when he ran into the driver’s side door of a woman's car.
Vanore said the driver’s 2-year-old and 5-year-old children were in the back seat.
“At some point, the defendant’s motorcycle came into contact with her vehicle,” Vanore said.
A video, taken by a tourist on a bus and widely shared on social media, shows what happened next. Investigators say Heron can be seen getting off his motorcycle, jumping onto the back of the car and stomping the back window, shattering it onto the two kids.
The driver then gets out of the car to confront him on the street, video shows, and he points a gun at her.
“And at some point, [he] headbutts her with his helmet still on his head,” Vanore said. “That confrontation gets physical between the two of them, and then the bikes leave the area.”
Police say they searched Heron’s property and found the motorcycle, helmet, clothing and gun visible in the video.
Acting Police Commissioner John Stanford decried these mobs of motorcyclists and ATV riders, crowding cars and weaving through traffic, as a major public safety problem. However, officers can’t chase the bikers because it creates a danger to drivers, riders, police and people walking nearby
He said the Police Department has been deploying car patrols to disperse meetups, and they have confiscated the dirt bikes and ATVS that are not legal on city streets.
Police praised the public not only for the tips leading to Heron’s arrest but also for their ongoing help calling in information about meetups like the one on Sunday.
“If folks tell us where bikes are being stored, if folks are riding them, if there is a particular time of day, if they have some information that there are going to be ride outs, those tips help us in the same way,” he said.