Temple University students and North Philly residents are working together to help a disabled veteran and Temple alum after cars were damaged and at least one overturned during a rowdy block party before the Super Bowl. NBC10’s Cydney Long has the story and the latest on the search for the people responsible.
Two of the nine people clad in Eagles gear who investigators say were caught on camera flipping over a car just before the Super Bowl on Sunday surrendered to police Wednesday night, police said. Both men are from Delaware County.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office announced criminal mischief, riot, criminal conspiracy, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct charges against 21-year-old Nicholas Faraglia and 23-year-old Edward Pearce.
"According to police, Faraglia is seen helping to flip the vehicle onto its roof and climbing on top while wearing an Eagles #87 (Brent Celek) jersey, and Pearce is seen helping to flip the vehicle and climbing on top while wearing an Eagles #25 (LeSean McCoy) jersey," the DA's office said.
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Both men separately surrendered to police on Wednesday, the DA's office said. Neither man has a previous criminal record and were released on their own recognizance. Online court records listing attorneys who could comment for each man couldn't be found.
The incident occurred on the 1700 block of Arlington Street -- a small street near Temple University in North Philadelphia -- around 4:20 p.m. on Sunday. People could be seen in video flipping over a Silver 2008 Volvo S80 sedan in the middle of the street, police said in a Tuesday news release.
The car windows were smashed, the license plate removed and the car was spray painted, police said. Video posted online shows people jumping onto the flipped car and some even high-fiving.
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Detectives believe nine individuals were involved in the car flip. You can take a look at all of their photos in the following video, which police released, and help identify them.
Philadelphia and Temple police officers arrived on the scene to disperse the crowd after learning of the incident Sunday afternoon. They remained in the area throughout the evening and said they did not receive additional reports of disorderly behavior.
Other cars in the area were also reportedly damaged. Frustrated neighbors called out the crowd for being out of control.
"They have no consideration for the children that live here or anything on this block," said Ruby Dixon, who lives on Arlington Street. "There needs to be some type of way that they can ban these parties that be going on because afterwards we're left to clean up their mess. Three cars already got damaged. Next thing you know somebody's going to get hurt."
Neighbors and Temple community members came together to raise money for Richard Pierce, a 70-year-old disabled veteran and Temple alum whose car was vandalized during the block party.
"He has to get to all his doctors appointments and it's unbelievable that he has to cancel, like, his life just to get this car fixed," Matt Giovannini, a sophomore at Temple, told NBC10.
When several Temple students who live across the street from Pierce realized the extent of the damage, they started a GoFundMe page for him.
"The fellas, they had nothing to do with it. They were just sitting on the steps watching it and when they saw people jumping on my car they was like making people get off my car," Pierce said.
Donations have reached over $11,000.
""It brought me to tears," Pierce, who graduated from Temple in 1974 and has lived in the community for decades, told NBC10. "And I haven't cried in I can't tell you how long."
The university urged students to "stay safe and respect our campus and community" ahead of the Super Bowl and said it was disappointed by students' behavior after learning of the vandalism.
Temple University said in a statement that it can take disciplinary action against students who violate the Student Conduct Code in addition to any charges by police. Temple also asked that anyone with information or footage of the incident and those involved email it to the Temple Investigations Unit at Investigations@temple.edu. People sending information and footage can remain anonymous.
Philadelphia police made 13 arrests on Sunday night following the Eagles' Super Bowl loss, including two people for misdemeanors and 11 people for disorderly conduct.
Large groups of fans could be seen on Market and Broad streets following the 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Although there were some incidents of vandalism, for the most part the crowds were not rowdy.
