Sled suspect is 'sorry'

Eugene "Sultan" Harrison also implicated the two other suspects in the case. Eugene "Sultan" Harrison told police in a statement that he is "sorry" about his role in the Halloween night stabbing death of University biochemist Vladimir Sled. In statements read at a preliminary hearing yesterday, Harrison also implicated the other two suspects in the case, telling police that the three drove around University City searching for someone to rob before settling on Sled and his fiancee Cecelia Hagerhall. "I just wanted a simple robbery -- we all just wanted to rob the people," he said. "I'm sorry the man got stabbed. I didn't think Bridget [Black, the suspect accused of stabbing Sled] would stab the guy. We just wanted to get their money and credit cards." Assistant District Attorney Dick Carroll said the statement is "dynamite" for the prosecution. "Harrison has put himself in it with both feet," Carroll said. "He's up to his kneecaps in alligators." Bridget Black, who allegedly stabbed Sled to death, and Yvette Stewart, who allegedly waited in the getaway vehicle, had pleaded not guilty to murder, robbery and related charges at a formal arraignment earlier this month. "Bridget stabbed the guy during the fight," Harrison said in his statement. Carroll said yesterday's hearing went smoothly, explaining that Hagerhall -- who was with Sled when he was murdered near 43rd Street and Larchwood Avenue -- delivered "almost a carbon copy" of the account she gave at Stewart's preliminary hearing in January. "I asked [Hagerhall] the exact same questions, and she answered the exact same thing," Carroll said. Harrison's court-appointed attorney, Tariq El-Shabazz, did not return telephone messages left at his office yesterday. In Harrison's statement -- given to Philadelphia Homicide Detective Jeff Piree November 20 -- the suspect described how he and the other two suspects planned to commit a robbery that evening. "We drove around for a while and I said, 'Let's drive to the University area'," Harrison said in the statement. "I was driving down that way and I saw a couple, a guy and a woman, walking up Larchwood Street from 43rd Street going toward 44th. "I circled the block, and I told Bridget and Yvette, 'We can rob that couple.' We all agreed," Harrison said, describing how he got out of the car at 44th Street and Larchwood Avenue with his "head down and pulled [his] baseball cap down low on [his] head." Harrison said he began fighting with Sled after stealing Hagerhall's pocketbook, noting that the couple "fell against a car that was parked there." Black assisted Harrison in robbing Sled and Hagerhall as they screamed for help. "Bridget came running up from the sidewalk and she is now also helping me -- she is fighting with me against the guy," Harrison said. "She is, like, punching the guy in front of the parked car." Harrison said he got in the driver's seat after Stewart pulled up the car, and they drove off after picking up Black, who had been searching for her jacket. Harrison explained how he unsuccessfully attempted to use Hagerhall's Money Access Center card "about a half-dozen times" that night. Video cameras at the machines caught Harrison on tape, and Harrison said he "knew it was over for [himself]" when he saw his own photograph in a newspaper. He also identified Stewart as having appeared in several of the MAC photographs. His formal arraignment is scheduled for March 20 at 9 a.m. in room 604 of the Criminal Justice Center at 13th and Filbert streets.

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