Driver charged with attempted murder after striking officers in Plymouth Township

A man has been charged with attempted murder after striking two police officers with his vehicle in Plymouth Township, Montgomery County, police said.

Court records revealed Dalton Lee Janiczek, 21, of Lower Gwynedd, is charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and related charges.

The charges stem from a series of incidents that started on Friday, October 24, 2025, when the Springfield Township Police Department in Montgomery County reported that a white Mercedes G-Wagon with a Pennsylvania registration, driven by Janiczek, fled from an attempted traffic stop at a high rate of speed, according to a criminal complaint.

Officers did not pursue the vehicle but notified their neighboring police departments of the fleeing vehicle, police said.

That day, there were several other attempts to stop Janiczek in his vehicle, with the suspect apparently having several other altercations with police earlier in the week, police said, including allegedly threatening to blow up a police station in Chester County.

Just before 1 p.m. on Friday, court documents said an officer from Plymouth Township responded to the Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel on Fountain Road to check for the Mercedes. When the officer found the vehicle, he pulled up behind it and activated his emergency lights. Within seconds, Janiczek reversed the Mercedes, striking the officer’s vehicle several times.

It was reported by police that the officer got out of his vehicle and drew his firearm, yelling at Janiczek to stop the vehicle and show his hands. That’s when Janiczek drove the Mercedes right towards the officer.

Court documents said the officer discharged his firearm at least five times toward the front windshield of the vehicle seconds before the vehicle then struck him, causing him to fall to the ground. The officer immediately suffered an injury to his leg.

Janiczek immediately drives the Mercedes west in the parking lot while the officer attempts to apply a tourniquet to his bleeding leg, according to documents. As the officer is trying to apply a tourniquet, while lying on his back in the parking lot, Janiczek returns in the vehicle and strikes the officer three more times as he yells for help.

Janiczek then flees, police said. Documents said more officers responded to the scene and attempted to find Janicnezk.

A short distance later on Walton Road an unmarked Plymouth police vehicle with its emergency lights approached the Mercedes, police said. That’s when Janiczek drove across the double yellow line directly toward the unmarked vehicle.

The impact caused the unmarked vehicle to strike another marked police vehicle. The Mercedes continued to travel southbound in the northbound lane of Walton Road, where his vehicle struck a stopped marked Plymouth Police vehicle head-on, disabling it and injuring a Plymouth Township Police sergeant, police said.

The sergeant was taken to the hospital for injuries to his leg, police said.

Janiczek was immediately taken into custody after striking the sergeant’s vehicle, according to court documents.

Court documents said that while Janiczek was handcuffed and being walked to a patrol vehicle, an officer heard him say, “Put me in the car or I will kill you.”

The Mercedes had three bullet strikes in the windshield, and Janiczek had what appeared to be a graze wound to his head, consistent with the earlier shots that were fired at him. He was treated at an area hospital and cleared within a few hours, police said.

The first officer, who had been struck by Janiczek’s vehicle in the Double Tree parking lot, was airlifted to a hospital to be treated for severe leg injuries, police said.

A witness, who was sitting in the parking lot of the Double Tree, recorded part of the incident and claimed that Janiczek intentionally ran over the officer, court documents said.

“Janiczek’s actions were clearly an intentional act, and he intended to seriously injure and/or kill the officers involved,” the court document said.

Janiczek is being held in jail with no bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 4.