{"id":2824,"date":"2025-10-16T00:04:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/2824\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T00:04:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:04:24","slug":"man-shot-by-police-in-bensalem-idd-as-habitual-offender-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/2824\/","title":{"rendered":"Man shot by police in Bensalem ID\u2019d as habitual offender \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who was shot and injured by police in Bensalem while trying to flee from a road rage incident<\/a> has been identified as a habitual offender who had warrants out for his arrest, officials said on Monday. <\/p>\n

According to police, 44-year-old John Mathis has had frequent contact with law enforcement over the past 20 years, including in the days before the most recent incident on Saturday, Aug. 2. <\/p>\n

Court records show Mathis has been arrested in the past for burglary, theft, assault, fleeing police and road rage. <\/p>\n

In fact, Mathis had at least two warrants out for his arrest, with one being for a road rage incident in Bristol Borough on July 27, 2025, where he allegedly intentionally struck two vehicles before grabbing a baseball bat and smashing a car’s front door and windshield and then fleeing. <\/p>\n

The second arrest warrant was issued on Thursday, Aug.1, after a judge revoked his bail pending trial on a number of open charges in Bucks County, including aggravated assault while DUI, fleeing and retail theft.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors in the second case say Mathis repeatedly violated the conditions of his release, including cutting off his GPS monitor. <\/p>\n

Mathis was released from jail in May 2025, when a judge granted him a conditional release that included GPS monitoring. <\/p>\n

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office says they objected to the conditional release and had successfully argued for Mathis’ bail be revoked in July 2023 when he plead guilty to charges in Bristol Borough.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Mathis, in my opinion, is someone who should be behind bars,” said Director of Public Safety William McVey of the Bensalem Police Department. <\/p>\n

The road rage incident on Saturday began at around 5:45 p.m., when police got a call of a man on a motorcycle threatening a man and a woman inside a car with a handgun, McVey said at the time. <\/p>\n

During the incident, Mathis allegedly aimed his handgun at the man’s face and threatened to rob him. <\/p>\n

The man attempted to drive away from Mathis, who followed him down the roadway. <\/p>\n

A police car approached and got in between the car and Mathis, causing Mathis to crash his motorcycle into the cruiser.<\/p>\n

The officer then issued commands to Mathis, which they say he ignored, and chased after Mathis after tried to flee on foot.<\/p>\n

The officer shot Mathis after he allegedly slightly turned toward the officer while still holding the handgun, McVey said. <\/p>\n

“He had to make a decision to end the threat,” McVey said.<\/p>\n

Mathis is still currently at the hospital in guarded condition. <\/p>\n

Officers may not have known Mathis was wanted at the time of the incident, McVey said.<\/p>\n

NBC10 reached out to multiple defense attorneys who represented Mathis in previous cases, and they are unable to comment at this time.<\/p>\n

Police are asking the public to contact them if they encountered a masked motorcyclist on Saturday, Aug. 2, who was driving aggressively. <\/p>\n

“I don’t know his motives,” McVey said. “Based on his criminal past, he’s not someone who should be around innocent people.”<\/p>\n

The officer-involved shooting is being investigated by Bucks County detectives and will be reviewed by the District Attorney. <\/p>\n

The officer has been placed on administrative leave, which is the department’s policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who was shot and injured by police in Bensalem while trying to flee from a road…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[191,193,192,194],"class_list":{"0":"post-2824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bensalem","8":"tag-bensalem","9":"tag-bensalem-headlines","10":"tag-bensalem-news","11":"tag-bensalem-township"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}