Woman Dies Of Overdose At Homeless Camp On Parkway

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

A homeless woman was found dead in the Tent City on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway last night with a needle in her arm.

Police said identity of the victim, who had overdosed, was unknown, and that records recording her death listed her as Jane Doe, age unknown. 

The homeless camp at 22nd and the Parkway has been the site of numerous overdoses. The city, in its legal filings in U.S. District Court seeking to clear the Parkway, has claimed there have been as many as 21 emergency calls for drug overdoses in one month at the camps, which the city said were overrun with the synthetic drug K2.

The camp at 22nd and the Parkway, home to some 150 "activists," was previously the site of a fatal crash on Sept. 25th that left one 20-year-old man dead and a woman injured. Cops told CBS Philly that the driver of a speeding Volkswagen swerved to avoid cones in the road that led to the camp. The camp's alleged leaders subsequently told reporters that as a "good will" gesture, they had voluntarily removed two homemade barriers of wooden pallets that had previously blocked all four lanes of 22nd Street to all traffic.

Camp leaders on Saturday also announced that the Kenney administration had allegedly struck a deal with the activists to supposedly turn over 50 vacant properties previously slated to be sold to developers to a community land trust to be managed by the activists. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. But WHYY quoted a city spokesman on Sunday declining to confirm the deal, saying that many details remained to be worked out. And that as part of the deal, the activists would have to leave the Parkway where they've been allowed by the Kenney administration to illegally squat on public land and litter it with hypodermic needles and all kinds of trash for the past four months.

WHYY also quoted a Philadelphia Housing Authority statement saying the alleged deal for the giveaway of 50 vacant homes was far from done.

“Announcement of a deal is entirely premature," a PHA statement on Monday said, according to WHYY. “The encampment leaders continuing to negotiate in the media and in the realm of public opinion demonstrates their lack of sincerity."

“Although, we remain hopeful about reaching an amicable resolution on the encampment, this puts any deal in serious jeopardy.”

In their statement to WHYY, PHA also echoed what a city spokesperson previously said, that no deal could be struck with the activists without an end date to clear the encampments. 

Since June, Kenney has allowed the army of left-wing anarchists and activists to illegally occupy the Von Colln Field, the grounds of the Rodin Museum, the Azalea Garden adjacent to the Art Museum, as well as a separate camp stationed outside PHA headquarters.

Three different times, Kenney set final deadlines for the squatters to clear the encampments. After a pro-bono lawyer for the anarchists filed a lawsuit against the city, a federal judge upheld the city's right to clear the camps because of concerns over public safety, and public health during an ongoing pandemic. But three times, Kenney backed down and failed to enforce the law.

In the wake of the confusion over the alleged deal to giveaway 50 vacant houses, many neighbors on social media have questioned the wisdom of rewarding people for breaking the law. They've also raised the issue of whether it would be fair to vault the demands of the camp activists over the desires of more than 40,000 other people, who for years have been sitting on a PHA waiting list for public housing.

The overdose death wasn't the only time cops were summoned yesterday to the camps. At 10:56 a.m. yesterday, cops responded to a robbery in progress at 22nd and the Parkway. The complainant, Gregory Sherels, 58, of of the 2400 block of Lehigh Avenue, stated that while he was at the camp two black males and a white female beat him with shovels and brooms, and robbed him of $40. 

Police stated that Sherels, who "was not very cooperative," had cuts on his nose and back. He was transported to Temple University Hospital. Police said Sherels had a warrant outstanding from Ohio and was carrying a gun that he didn't have a permit for.

Meanwhile, while lawlessness reigns on the Parkway, gun violence in Philadelphia continues unabated, a surging epidemic that's been ignored of late by the local media. But the body count continues to rise. Over the weekend, there were 31 shootings, three of which were homicides, and several more where victims were reported in critical condition.

On Monday night, there were seven shootings; on Tuesday night, there were nine more shootings. As of Wednesday night, there were three more shootings, one of which was a homicide. On Thursday night, there were five more shootings, one of which was a homicide and several other shooting victims were reported in critical condition.

As of Monday, the city was up to 344 homicides, a 36% increase from this time last year when the city had 253 homicides. By Friday, the body count hit 351. At this rate, the city will easily exceed 400 homicides for the year.

As of Monday, the city had 1,555 shooting victims, a 47% increase from this time last year when the city had 1,057 shooting victims.

There have been 2,663 shooting incidents in Philadelphia, a 57% increase from this time last year when the city had 1,700 shooting incidents.

The city also has recorded 2,680 aggravated assaults by firearm, a 40% increase from this time last year when the city had 1,917 aggravated assaults by firearm.

And with all this lawlessness, murder and gun violence going on, what's our mayor concerned about? A possible invasion on Election Day of deranged Trump supporters, who, according to Kenney, might try to intimidate voters at polling places in our Democratic utopia.

"People are simply not allowed to stand there and intimidate people," Kenney told The Philadelphia Inquirer, the house organ for the local corrupt Democratic party that continues to let Kenney get away with this nonsense, as well as escape any accountability while the city's going to hell. 

Sadly, our mayor's a joke, and so's the city's paper of record.