Driver identified after deliberately crashing vehicle into police station

The driver, who police said intentionally crashed a vehicle into a police station lobby in Northeast Philadelphia, has been identified.

On Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at around 1:40 p.m., a driver identified as Dieufort Joly, 26, from Philadelphia, deliberately drove his black 2007 Hyundai Tucson into the lobby of the 2nd Police District headquarters, located on the 700 block of Castor Avenue, according to police.

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When Joly exited the vehicle and walked onto Caster Avenue, police said he was immediately apprehended. He was then transported to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, and then taken to a police facility for processing.

At the time of the crash, five people were inside the lobby waiting for service. All five were transported to a nearby hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. None of the victims are police officers.

There was extensive damage, but not structural damage, to the police building, police reported. The building was boarded up on Wednesday.

During a news conference on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel described the incident as “a deliberate act.”

Police said Joly has been charged with five counts of aggravated assault, five counts of simple assault, five counts of recklessly endangering another person, one count of causing/risking catastrophe, one count of institutional vandalism, and one count of possession of instrument of crime.  

NBC10 obtained shocking surveillance video of the crash. You can see people waiting inside the police station when a car barrels into the building, shattering the glass and sending debris flying everywhere.

“I head a loud boom and continuous shattering of glass. I thought it was the police being under attack,” Clarence Armstrong said.

Armstrong said that he was inside the building’s bathroom when the car crashed into it. He says he could have been seriously hurt.

“I could have been hit directly by the car straight on because literally, not too long before that, I was outside on the bench taking a nap,” Armstrong explained. “I was in the right place at the right time.”