PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An investigation by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office found that the Plymouth Township police officer who fired at a driver trying to run him over in a hotel parking lot last month was authorized to use deadly force.
On the morning of Oct. 24, investigators said 21-year-old Dalton Janiczek, of Brushtown Road in Lower Gwynedd, had called 911 saying he was going to blow up a police station, and, later that day, while in a Mercedes SUV, had refused to stop when police tried to pull him over several times for erratic driving.
When the Plymouth Township officer pulled behind the Mercedes in the hotel parking lot, charging documents revealed that Janiczek backed into him. And, when the officer stepped out of the SUV, Janiczek accelerated directly at him. The officer then fired six shots into the windshield of the Mercedes.
The complaint said Janiczek tried to run the officer over three more times as he tried to apply a tourniquet to his own leg, before driving out of the parking lot, and slamming head-on into another police car, injuring that officer as well.
Janiczek remains in custody on charges including attempted murder and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.
Both Plymouth Township officers are out of the hospital, but one will need multiple surgeries on his leg.