A Philadelphia police officer was assaulted at a hospital while visiting Officer Jesse Hartnett, who is recovering from a shooting ambush that took place Jan. 7.
The officer who was assaulted, who has not been identified, went to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center around 10:42 p.m. Jan. 9 to see Hartnett, according to the Philly Voice.
As the officer entered the facility, a male approached him and asked for money. The officer gave the man, who claimed he had not eaten in five days, a $5 bill. After visiting with Hartnett the officer was standing near the hospital’s exit doors when the same man approached him from behind.
This time the suspect tried to take the officer’s weapon from its holster. The officer turned around and quickly took the suspect to the ground with the help of hospital security officers. The suspect claimed he wanted the officer’s gun to rob the store across the street.
The officer sustained a minor face injury in the struggle, which can be viewed in the surveillance video above.
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Law enforcement officials insisted the incident was not related to Hartnett’s ambush, which may have been terrorist-related. In that incident, Hartnett, 33, was sitting in his patrol car when Edward Archer ran up to the cruiser and fired 13 shots at close range. Hartnett was shot three times in the arm but was able to heroically get out of his car and shoot Archer. After being taken into custody Archer claimed he acted out of allegiance to the Islamic State.
