Police charge man with homicide by vehicle for the death of off-duty Philadelphia officer Marc Brady

Police have charged a man in the death of an off-duty 22nd District officer, who was struck and killed early this morning while riding his bicycle.

Eight-year force veteran Officer Marc Brady, 32, was hit head-on by a car at Musgrave Street and East Meehan Avenue in East Mount Airy around 11:40 p.m., police said. He suffered severe head trauma and died at Albert Einstein Medical Center about a half hour later.

Police have charged Brady’s ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend, Kareem Alleyne, 35, of the 900 block of East Price Street, with homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter for allegedly mowing Brady down. “He took his vehicle and intentionally struck an off-duty officer,” Homicide Capt. James Clark said.

Investigators said the two ran into one another as Brady was on his way to his ex-girlfriend’s house to visit the children they shared. “We don’t believe it was planned,” Clark said. “The officer, like I said, was on his bike. He was en route to his ex-girlfriends house. Mr. Alleyne had just left there and I believe it was a chance encounter they did run into – they saw each other, but with that, he directed his vehicle in the off-duty officer’s direction, striking him and ultimately killing him. … They had bad blood between them and that’s probably what transpired.”

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey confirmed that Brady was on administrative duty pending an Internal Affairs investigation, which reportedly also revolved around incidents domestic in nature, but declined to comment further. “In terms of any other kind of investigation, obviously now with the death of the officer, there is nothing that will be proceeding forward in that regard,” he said. “Out of respect for the family and so forth, I don’t want to turn this into that sort of thing. We’re dealing now with the death of the officer. Nothing justifies the taking of another life.”

Ramsey also confirmed that there have been no arrests in a 2010 incident in which Brady was shot in the leg while off-duty near the same area, but said the two cases have not been tied together. “Anything that happened in the past we can’t definitively link to yesterday’s event other than the fact they knew each other. They weren’t exactly friendly,” he said.

The tragedy comes two days after the Philadelphia Police Department buried another one of their own, Highway Patrol Officer Brian Lorenzo, who was hit by an allegedly drunk driver while traveling home from work on I-95.