Police Say This Detective Broke a Man’s Leg With Brutal Kick, Abandoned Him Roadside

A Philadelphia Police detective has been charged with assault after allegedly attacking a man and then leaving him on a “random roadside” to seek help.

Detective Adam O’Donnell, 43, has also been suspended by the department for 30 days, officials say, with the intent to dismiss him from the force.

The incident happened on February 3, 2015. Prosecutors say O’Donnell was escorting a 45-year-old man out of the department’s Special Victims Unit at 300 E. Hunting Park Avenue. Once outside the view of the building’s security cameras, police allege, O’Donnell turned and kicked the man in the knee. After regaining his composure, the man found he could not put any weight on the leg. Police say that O’Donnell then drove the victim to the Hunting Park section of the city and left him on the side of the road.

The man was later treated for a femur fracture. He continues to walk with a limp, officials said, and still receives treatment.

Neither police nor prosecutors would say why the man was at the Special Victims Unit — whether he was a victim, witness, or suspect in a crime. A police spokesman said the man was never charged with a crime.

“A senseless attack on one Philadelphian is an attack on all Philadelphians,” District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement announcing the charges. “I also hope that by charging Mr. O’Donnell he not only understands the severity of his crime but is reminded that when law enforcement does something to clearly hurt a complainant it will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

O’Donnell previously made headlines in 2011, when he and a partner got in a shootout with a suspect that left the suspect dead; O’Donnell took a round to the stomach, but was spared severe injury by his bulletproof vest.

He is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, obstructing administration of law, and official oppression. O’Donnell turned himself into authorities on Wednesday.

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