BIKER NEWS: Police: Hit-run driver who killed off-duty cop was drunk

BN- FOR PHILADELPHIA Police Officer Lamar Poole Sr.'s family, an infinite thread of worry wove through the hubbub of daily life.


"You know how it is now: They don't respect police officers like they once did," Poole's uncle Myron Kinsey said. "It's very dangerous out there. We always worried about him."

So when Poole swapped the streets for an "inside job" processing prisoners and doing other desk work a few years ago, their worries ebbed - but didn't end. After all, Poole was a motorcyclist. He commuted to and from work most days on two wheels and loved the bike life so much he joined a motorcycle club, relatives said.

So when Kinsey got the grave news Sunday that his nephew had been injured, "the first thing that came to my mind was that [bike]," said Kinsey, 64, of North Philly. "That motorcycle was his toy; he drove it every chance he could get. I still never thought this day would come."



But Sunday brought the worst news imaginable: Poole, 42, died about an hour after he collided with a hit-and-run motorist who turned in front of him at Devereaux Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philly. A tow-truck driver who witnessed the crash chased down the fleeing motorist, Louis John Vogwill, and held him a few blocks away at Harbison and the boulevard until police arrived.

Yesterday, police arrested Vogwill, of Loretto Avenue near Benner Street in Oxford Circle, who they say was driving drunk when he hit Poole with his 1999 Toyota Corolla.

Vogwill, who celebrated his 59th birthday on the day he hit Poole, is now jailed on $500,000 bail on charges of involuntary manslaughter, homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, DUI, fleeing the scene of an accident and related offenses.

"I'm glad that they caught the man," the officer's only sibling, Melinda Poole, 46, said. "I just hope he can recognize what he has done. This is no joke to be out here drinking and driving. It's really taking a toll on me right now."

Poole was an 18-year veteran assigned to the 12th District in Southwest Philly but detailed to West Philly's 18th District cell room. He'd dreamed of becoming a cop since childhood, relatives said.

"When he was in the [Police] Academy, he used to come home and tell me all the things he learned. I wanted to be like my big cousin, so I came on the job a year later," said Nashid Akil, now a sergeant assigned to the 16th District in Powelton. While the men were cousins, Akil said Poole "was like a brother. That was my heart."

"If you were out of line, he was firm as a police officer," Akil added. "But he definitely knew how to treat people; he was a gentleman in the cell room."

Akil said he and Poole just talked Friday about the prior weekend's death of off-duty Sgt. Rafael Ali, 32, who lost control of his pickup truck in Roxborough and died after he hit a tree.

Poole "was a very experienced rider," said Akil, who shared his cousin's love of motorcycles and rode with him often. He'd swapped his "crotch rocket" speedster for a slower cruiser-style cycle in April, Akil said.

But Poole had no helmet nor other protective gear on when he was hit, leaving Akil to wonder whether he'd have survived the crash if he had. Poole's death will "make me not be lax with the protective equipment anymore," Akil added.

Poole's family said he had just gotten off work and was driving his Honda VTX motorcycle to a family barbecue when he was hit.

He was a married father of seven, the youngest just 6 and 14, Melinda Poole said. His family still called him "Cookie" - a decades-old nickname bestowed because of his childhood love of cookies.

Towering at about 6-foot-5, he'd been a high-school basketball star, playing for Edison High School in the early 1990s. He didn't play much anymore because "his knees gave out on him," Melinda Poole said. Still, he passed his love of basketball on to his son Stephon, Kinsey said.

"He got the most joy watching his son Stephon play for Frankford four or five years ago," Kinsey said.

"My brother was the sweetest person you would ever know. He gave from his heart. He'd give to whoever he could," Melinda Poole said. "It's really crazy, because you know you never expect it [tragic death] to be someone you're close to. It's a lot to take in."

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