Men Held in Feltonville Getaway Crash to be Charged with Murder

KYW Newsradio Team Coverage
by KYW's Tony Hanson, Jim Melwert, and Kim Glovas

Philadelphia police say the district attorney's office has approved charging two robbery suspects with four counts of murder for the accident in Feltonville Wednesday night that killed a woman and three young children.  The men also face a number of other charges.
  
Police captain James Clark says the incident began with a gunpoint robbery about 7:30pm on Wednesday evening, defendant Ivan Rodriguez, 20, fleeing on a stolen motorcycle and 18-year-old Donta Cradock (pictured above) in a car.

According to Capt. Clark, a traffic officer tried to stop Cradock on Roosevelt Boulevard but Cradock took off, eluding the officer, then crashing as he lost control of his car on the 4500 block of North Third Street:

"The 22-year-old female, she was sitting on the front step, the one-year-old was actually in a baby carriage out front, and the two other children were right in front of the steps, playing. The vehicle came at a high rate of speed, out of control, slammed up onto the sidewalk, striking them, hitting the baby carriage. The baby was discharged form the baby carriage and the two children laid underneath the vehicle."

The young victims were identified as seven-year-old Gina Marie Rosario, six-year-old Aaliyah Griffin, and one-year-old Remedy Smith. 

LaToya Smith, the 22-year-old mother of the toddler, was rushed to Einstein Medical Center in critical condition and died a few hours later.

After the crash Cradock -- the driver of the car -- was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.  Both he and Rodriguez, the driver of the motorcycle, are now in police custody.  At least one gun was recovered at the scene.

Authorities say both men were wanted for separate crimes at the time of the armed robbery and subsequent crash on Wednesday night. According to sources, Cradock has a significant history of arrests including for robbery and gun offenses, and a car theft dating back to when he was just 12 years old.

Mayor Michael Nutter and police commissioner Charles Ramsey both visited the scene and expressed outrage at the lawlessness of the perpetrators.