Man accused of dragging Philly officer 200 feet by car during traffic stop pleads guilty

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 21-year-old man accused of dragging a Philadelphia police officer 200 feet with his Tesla last summer pleaded guilty to a slew of charges Friday.

In July 2023, two highway patrol officers stopped Eddy Brito-Almonte near Cheltenham Avenue and Charles Street in Frankford after they say he committed traffic violations.

Capt. John Ryan of Northeast Detectives said things got dangerous when the officers noticed a gun on the floor of the car. One of the officers reached down to pick it up, and Brito-Almonte took off.

“In this desperation to get away, [the driver] first put the vehicle in reverse, dragging the officer. And then when the officer wouldn’t fall out of the vehicle, he put it in drive and dragged him another 100 feet,” Chief Inspector Scott Small told KYW last July.

The officer sustained minor injuries. Brito-Almonte turned himself in the next day and was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and firearms offenses.

On Friday, he admitted that as police pulled him over for blowing a stop sign, he lied to them, saying he didn’t have a gun in the car, and when they saw the firearm and confronted him, he drove off.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, simple assault, resisting arrest and related charges.

Brito-Almonte is on house arrest until his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for July.