A man who was fatally injured when he jumped out of a moving vehicle and was run over by a police cruiser had been speeding into east Reading without headlights before hitting and riding up a curb, city police said Thursday.
Hector L. Cruz-Cruz, 22, was being pursued by Central Berks Regional Police Officer Ronald Tobias after Cruz-Cruz fled a traffic stop in Pennside about 2 a.m. Wednesday, city police said.
Investigators gave this account:
Tobias was in the 200 block of Carsonia Avenue when he saw a sport utility vehicle with no headlights on. He pulled over the sport utility vehicle at Carsonia Avenue and Friedensburg Road.
Cruz-Cruz gave Tobias his name and birth date and said he was picking up a drunken friend. Cruz-Cruz sped off when Tobias went to his patrol cruiser to verify the information.
Tobias pursued the SUV on Carsonia and onto Perkiomen Avenue, heading westbound in the section in Mount Penn that is one-way eastbound.
The SUV was going about 80 mph as it continued west into the city.
The SUV, which had been stolen hours earlier in the 800 block of Pear Street, struck a curb on a bend near South 14th Street.
Cruz-Cruz opened the driver's side door and jumped out while the SUV was still moving.
He rolled into the opposite lane and into the path of Tobias' cruiser.
Tobias was unable to avoid Cruz-Cruz and ran over him.
Cruz-Cruz, who had no permanent address, was taken by city ambulance to Reading Hospital, where he was pronounced dead by a physician Wednesday at 4:23 a.m., officials said.
An autopsy performed Wednesday afternoon in Reading Hospital by Dr. Neil A. Hoffman, a forensic pathologist, determined that Cruz-Cruz died of injuries to his head and chest, according to the Berks County coroner's office.
A ruling has not yet been issued on the manner of death, officials said.
Copyright 2011 - Reading Eagle, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
