In what I hope is just an isolated incident, an eleven year veteran Philadelphia police officer has been arrested after allegedly participating in a home invasion in nearby Montgomery County, then leading police on a 130 m.p.h. chase:

Malik Snell, an 11-year veteran of the police department, was the alleged getaway driver after the home invasion turned violent, Ferman said yesterday. Ferman said Snell led Pottstown police on a chase that reached 130 m.p.h.

Philadelphia police said Snell was suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss. Snell has been a police officer since 1996, according to city payroll records. He is assigned to the 18th District in West Philadelphia.

The break-in took place after midnight on Rowland Street in Pottstown, Ferman said. Snell waited in an SUV while his brother-in-law, Tyree Aimes, also of Philadelphia, and Stephon Gibson, forced their way inside the property, she said.

Ferman said the men were looking to retaliate against someone they thought had stolen money from a friend of theirs who was a drug dealer.

Apparently, the men picked the wrong address and broke into the apartment of a couple who were not involved, Ferman said. Aimes and Gibson beat the couple at gunpoint and fled, Ferman said. Snell and Aimes left in the SUV; Gibson was left behind, she said.

Pottstown police were soon in pursuit of Snell's vehicle, traveling north on Route 422. The high-speed chase spilled into Berks County, where Exeter Township police tried to lay out spike strips to stop the SUV.

The victim of a home invasion and robbery tells Fox Philadelphia a police officer was one of the men who tied his girlfriend up with an iron cord.

Investigators say Philadelphia Officer Malik Snell was an active participant in a robbery and break-in in Pottstown over the weekend. It's also believed he drove the getaway car for two other men involved in the crime.
Homeowner Stephen Stackhouse spoke first with Fox's Sharon Crowley.

"They came in, grabbed me by my throat, pushed me to the wall and told me to get down," said Stackhouse.

Stackhouse eventually broke free and called police. He says while he did that, Snell went to upstairs and tied up his girlfriend with the cord from an iron.

"They belong in jail. I don't care if he's a cop," said Stackhouse.

This is the sort of thing which typifies police in Third World countries.

I'm ashamed to see it in Philadelphia, and I sincerely hope it's not a trend.

(Of course crooked cops and the war on drugs go hand in hand.)

UPDATE: My thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link, and a warm welcome to all.

Any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

MORE: M. Simon points out that this web site features a weekly "corrupt cops section."

UPDATE: James Fulford at VDARE thinks this is about race:

...the important point here is that the Philadelphia cop who was allegedly assisting in a home invasion robbery was named Malik Snell, and his associates are called Tyree Aimes, and Stephon Gibson. What that means is that they're African-Americans. There is actually a photograph available at CBS3.com, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Cop Arrested In Home-Invasion, Chase, December 18, 2007. That means this isn't a "bad cop" story, it's also "black crime" story-if you know that the suspects are black.

In fact, if the officer had been white, I'd have said exactly the same thing. Corruption in law enforcement -- especially when it involves vice -- was alive and well when police departments were mostly all white, and I don't think the race of the officers changes anything.