Police Foot-Chase Ends in Backyard, With Drugs, Police Say

A man standing outside of a Norristown gas station caught the eye of a police officer on patrol, which escalated to a chase on foot with multiple officers and drug charges.

On Dec. 30 around 8:14 p.m., a Norristown police officer was patrolling around Marshall Street and Markley Street in a marked police vehicle, when he noticed an African American man, later identified as Shaquille Nichols, who wore a burgundy-colored jacket that had a “P” logo and grey sweatpants, as Nichols stood in front of Getty station, according to a Norristown police report.

The officer saw that Nichols, who, according to online court documents, is a 20-year-old Norristown resident, was using his cell phone to take photos of the inside of the station, and that the station was closed for day and had bars on the windows.

The officer moved towards Nichols, and Nichols began to walk away. The officer came from his vehicles and ordered Nichols to stop. Nichols’s hand was in his pocket, and, after the officer told his several times to stop, Nichols began to run, police say.

The officer ran after him on foot. Nichols ran east on West Marshall Street and, later, south on Barbadoes Street. Two other police officers helped chase Nichols on foot at Barbadoes Street and Ross Alley. One officer chased him east on Ross Alley and then south on Palm Alley, where Nichols fled with his right hand stuffed into his pants pocket

Nichols then ran onto West Airy Street and then behind a property on the 100 block of West Airy Street and into a back yard. The officer kept yelling for Nichols to show his hands but Nichols refused to do so, according to the report.

Nichols tried to climb a squat wall to a fence but he fell to the ground. The officer instructed him to show his hands, being that his right hand was in his pocket, and that if Nichols did not comply, he would be tased.

Nichols speedily rolled to his right side an put his left hand in his pocket. The officer used the taser. After the officer turned the taser off, Nichols moved his hand through a wooden fence and tried to climb it. The officer used a second round of tasing, and was then able to handcuff Nichols, police say.

After Nichols was brought to a police car, another officer went to the area where Nichols moved his hand through the fence, and the officer found a clear baggie full of 10 green packets thought to be crack cocaine, which were later tested to be cocaine, according to the report.

According to online court documents he faces a charge of manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, a charge of resisting arrest and a charge of use/possession of drug paraphernalia, among other charges.