PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police officials have identified the man shot and killed by officers outside Friends Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia on March 20 — and say the officer shot in his protective vest was hit by his own partner in the confusion.
According to authorities, the two officers were taking 36-year-old Aaron Rainey to Friends Hospital for a mental health issue — he was voluntarily committing himself. After they arrived, as the officers were trying to instruct him on where to go, Rainey became agitated and pushed one to the ground, then tried to grab his taser, then his firearm.
They say Officer Thomas Thompson tried to tase Rainey, which didn’t work. Rainey got a hold of the other officer’s gun and fired it. That’s when Thompson shot Rainey, killing him.
In the chaos, Thompson also hit his partner’s vest, just missing his flesh by about an inch. Both officers were taken to Temple University Hospital, where they were treated, then released.
Officials say they’re reviewing the incident, which was captured on body-worn cameras. Thompson is on desk duty, pending the outcome of three separate investigations — one by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, another by its Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Unit and a third by the District Attorney’s Office.