PHILADELPHIA - Two members of the Philadelphia Police Department were off-duty when they allegedly chased down and assaulted a man with autism who they wrongly accused of breaking into cars last summer in Northeast Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner said.
Inspector James Smith and former Det. Patrick Smith were arrested on Thursday morning and charged with simple assault and related offenses, according to Krasner.An internal affairs investigation found that on Aug.
19 the Smith brothers followed the 27-year-old victim in a car and stopped him in the parking lot of a shopping center near Fairhill Road and Knights Road.