report: Walking while Black in Pittsburgh

[Communist]

.
Walking while Black in Pittsburgh (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/pittsburgh_0211/)

By Marc Heston
Pittsburgh

Published Feb 4, 2010 10:11 PM


Around 11 p.m. on Jan. 12, another tragic incident demonstrated the racist establishment’s brutal punshment of the crime of “walking while Black” in Pittsburgh.

Jordan Miles, an 18-year-old viola player and honors student at the prestigious Creative and Performing Arts High School (CAPA), was walking from his mother’s home to his grandmother’s home where he frequently stayed, when he was inexplicably and brutally attacked by three white Pittsburgh police officers.

According to the police report, Miles was standing against a building “as if he was trying to avoid being seen.” The police said they observed something under the young man’s jacket which they thought to be a gun but turned out, according to their report, to be a bottle of Mountain Dew.

Miles maintains he had nothing in his jacket and seldom even drinks the beverage. He relates a different and more terrifying story. As he was walking he noticed a white car with three men inside. They jumped out of the vehicle and shouted, “Where’s the money?” “Where’s the gun?” and “Where’s the drugs?” Afraid of being robbed, Miles turned towards his mother’s home when he slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk.

Before he could get back up, Miles reported, “That’s when they started beating me, punching, kicking me, choking me.” It wasn’t until about 15 minutes later, when uniformed officers arrived in a police van, that Miles realized he was being arrested. The attackers never identified themselves as police, and when he was handcuffed Miles assumed he was being abducted.

The officers have been identified as Richard Ewing, David Sisak and Michael Saldutte. All three failed to appear at Miles’ Jan. 18 hearing on charges of resisting arrest and aggravated assault.

Miles had no criminal record prior to the attack.

Pictures taken and released by his mother, Terez Miles, show the young man’s face covered with bruises, with his right eye swollen shut and a bald spot where officers tore dreadlocks from his head. “My son is 150 pounds and 5-foot-6. There was no need for this degree of violence and brutality for someone of this stature,” she said. He was treated twice at West Penn Hospital for his injuries.

The media picked up on this horrific story, prompting Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to state, “The incident was very troubling to me, and we’re taking it very seriously.” Ravenstahl also told reporters, “It seems as if there was a tremendous amount of force used.” However, not only have the offending thugs not been fired or even suspended, they were merely taken off of plainclothes duty and reassigned in uniform.

With nationwide attention increasing, the FBI opened a fact-finding investigation to determine if Miles’ civil rights were violated.

The public outrage against this crime has been swift. On Jan. 26 about 60 CAPA students were joined by concerned residents and activists on a march through downtown Pittsburgh chanting, “Justice for Jordan!”

Outside Pittsburgh City Council chambers, Black Political Empowerment Project Director Tim Stevens spoke passionately as many of Miles’ schoolmates and others pushed back tears. “I cannot fathom how the Pittsburgh police could, in any reasonable way, defend the beating, stomping, choking and kicking of an unarmed, 5′6″, 150-pound teenager by three armed police officers. Simply moving the police officers from their former undercover status to uniform status does not properly handle this very troubling situation. These officers are still on the street to possibly brutalize other innocent, nonsuspecting citizens.”

Believing her son was racially profiled, Miles’ mother may file a civil rights lawsuit once the criminal case is resolved. Pittsburgh’s NAACP chapter has called for the three brutal officers to be fired and for all charges against Miles to be dropped. Chapter President M. Gayle Moss said, “He had robbed no one — no bank, no establishment, hijacked no car or caused anyone any harm. He was simply walking while Black.”

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http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/135438/thumbs/s-JORDAN-MILES-large.jpg
Taken by Jordan's mother Jan. 13


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Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background).
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[FreeFocus]

Thanks for posting this..fucking pigs man, fucking pigs. :mad:

[bcbm]

i wonder if anything will actually be done about these bastards for once.

[Communist]

It came in too late to add to the story before it went to print, but the Mayor put the pigs on paid leave. That's right, PAID leave. To make it worse yet, he expressed concern for their safety.
It is enough to make you physically ill.

[bcbm]

absolutely disgusting. i hope they get theirs.

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

The Mayor has an obligation to look after his citizens. However, he "should" be worried about their safety. It's too much to hope for, but a mob should be at his house or the police office. They should demand action be done. Sometimes I wish I lived during the civil rights movement. The resistance by Malcolm X is so inspiring. People stood up against injustices like this. Now, they send a letter to a politician.

http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/

That show is something I recently discovered. There are also videos on youtube. I think it's fascinating. They had blacks and whites in different situations and showed how people reacted differently. A person called the police on two black people sleeping in a car, I believe, while three white kids were vandalizing a car. I think it was something like 3 hours before someone reported the white kids. Meanwhile, the dangerous black kids sleeping "looked like they were planning a crime."

It's disturbing, but I really enjoy such segments. They're a big wake up call. Even though we all know racism still exists on paper, I find the segments really make it hit home. Many people did nothing when a black women was being forced to leave a store because she was a "security risk." Only a few people stood up. People also walked by when three men were beating up an immigrant on the street. These are all actors, mind you.

People cite bystander effects and all that, but they often showed the few people who intervened. Many of them were women standing up to men twice their size.

[Stand Your Ground]

Amerikkka is disgusting. One day I hope we get this shit cleaned up.

[Axle]

Send the swine away for the rest of their lives. There's no excuse for this shit and the victim, his family, Pittsburgh...they shouldn't have to tolerate it.

[Sendo]

...The Mayor put the pigs on paid leave. That's right, PAID leave.

Where I come from, we call that a vacation. Usually a reward for a year of hard work, but in this case, just one night's hard work.

[Communist]

__________________________________________

Justice for police brutality survivor Jordan Miles (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/jordan_miles_0218/)
By Marc Heston
Pittsburgh
Feb 15, 2010 9:04 AM

Amid mounting pressure from the community and activists, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl met the press on Feb. 1 and announced that three officers involved in the beating of Jordan Miles were now on paid administrative leave, as an investigation continued.

Ravenstahl stated: “I feel it is necessary to restore a sense of safety, trust and peace in our communities,” and added that the decision was “necessary for the safety of the officers involved.”

There was no concern for the safety of 18-year-old Miles on Jan. 12. Late that evening, the young Black honors student was walking to his grandmother’s home when three plainclothes police officers jumped out of a white car and viciously attacked him. The officers involved — Richard Ewing, David Sisak and Michael Saldutte — are now essentially on paid vacation.

Miles is due for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 18 on charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest. Miles’ mother, Terez, is calling for all charges against her son to be dropped.

There is a pattern of police brutality against Black residents in Pittsburgh.

On Oct. 12, 1995, Johnny Gammage, a 31-year-old Black man, was pulled over by police while driving a Jaguar through a mostly white Pittsburgh community. The vehicle had been loaned to him by his cousin, National Football League player Ray Seals. The unarmed Gammage died from asphyxiation due to pressure applied to his chest and neck by police officers John Vojtas, Michael Albert, Keith Henderson and Shawn Peterson.

All charges against the officers involved in the Gammage killing were dropped.

The struggle against racist police brutality continues, as hopes remain for justice to be delivered to the police officers who beat Miles.

_________________________________


Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background).
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[the last donut of the night]

My verdict:

Get three black men, who are still alive and well after police brutality, to beat these cops up.

[Scary Monster]

All i can say to this is :cursing::mad:

[DecDoom]

And of course, no mention on the local news. :mad:

[Communist]

And of course, no mention on the local news.

I'm surprised you haven't heard it on the news. It did receive pretty solid coverage on tv and radio for a while. It pretty much died out after Mayor Useless put the cops on paid leave, but I'm still following it.

[Robocommie]

Man, FUCK the police.

[Girl A]

Thanks for posting this, it's so fucking disgusting.

[Die Rote Fahne]

One of the few cases that get reported

[Robocommie]

One of the few cases that get reported

Yeah, truth man. And what the fuck are we as citizens supposed to do about this shit, call the cops?

[cska]

Yeah, truth man. And what the fuck are we as citizens supposed to do about this shit, call the cops?

Oh dear. :(

[Red Commissar]

Yeah, stuff like this will really help with PR in the inner city :rolleyes:

[DecDoom]

I'm surprised you haven't heard it on the news. It did receive pretty solid coverage on tv and radio for a while. It pretty much died out after Mayor Useless put the cops on paid leave, but I'm still following it.

Huh, I must have missed it. Who is still covering it?

[Communist]

Huh, I must have missed it. Who is still covering it?

I know channel 11 and KDKA have. Not heavy coverage, especially now, but it's been on. The blizzard really knocked it down the list. Online news is your best bet to keep up with it, sadly enough.

[Communist]

The latest news on this is Miles took - and passed - a polygraph test. If this can't be used, at least it assures all of his ordeal.

[Communist]

_____________

(http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10063/1040266-100.stm)Judge dismisses charges against teen beaten by police (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10063/1040266-100.stm)

Thursday, March 04, 2010
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/201003/20100304brk_pp_miles_jordan_500.jpg
Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette

Charges were dismissed against Jordan Miles, a CAPA student who claims three Pittsburgh police officers beat him in an incident in Homewood in January.

A judge today dismissed all charges against Pittsburgh high school student Jordan Miles, who claims he was badly beaten by three police officers during his arrest in Homewood.

Saying that he considered the weight of all the witnesses equally, District Judge Oscar Petite Jr. said he had no choice.

"When I look at everything in this case, I'm left with no other alternative but to dismiss all charges against Jordan Miles," the judge said.

He left open the possibility that prosecutors could refile the case, though not using the same affidavit.

Mr. Miles, 18, was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest in a Jan. 12 incident in which police said he was "sneaking around" a house on Tioga Street with a heavy object in his coat that they thought was a gun.

A criminal complaint said he ran from plainclothes Officers Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak when they ordered him to stop and assaulted two of them. Police said the object in his coat turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew.

But this morning, Mr. Miles' attorney, Kerrington Lewis, made much of the bottle. It was never taken into evidence, Officer Saldutte testified.

That's because it didn't exist, Mr. Lewis replied.

Testimony during the preliminary hearing turned on a section of the affidavit of probable cause in which officers claimed they spoke with a resident in the 7900 block of Tioga that night, and that she said she didn't know Mr. Miles, and that he should not have been on her property.

However, the woman who lives there, Monica Wooding, testified on Mr. Miles' behalf that she never made that statement to the officers. She's known Mr. Miles for several years, and he's friends with her son.

During argument, Mr. Lewis told Judge Petite that the affidavit was defective because it included perjured statements, and therefore the case should be dismissed.

"Officers are witnesses just like everybody else. No witness is any more important than another," he said.

In a written statement this afternoon, Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said the office will review the dismissal.

"In this instance, the judge assigned substantial legal significance to the testimony of the victim of the prowling charge," he said. "Our office will have to take a close look at that."
____________________

[Robocommie]

Well how magnanimous of them.

Thank you for staying on top of this story, comrade.

[Communist]

.
FOP Upset By Dropped Charges Against Homewood Teen (http://kdka.com/local/Jordan.Miles.charges.2.1538644.html)

by Stephani (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_w74VR3wwq5A/Rrrya37NEcI/AAAAAAAAAZw/gwJqWSL_sc4/s400/stephaniewatsonmug.jpg)e Wat (http://cdn.mademan.com/chickipedia/images/thumb/c/cd/Stephaniewatson-reporting-radiant-yellowjacket_798.jpg/180px-Stephaniewatson-reporting-radiant-yellowjacket_798.jpg)son

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/20/2010/03/05/175x131/jordanmilesmarch.jpg
Jordan Miles says three Pittsburgh police officers beat him when they arrested him in Homewood.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―

Just hours after Judge Oscar Petite dropped all charges against CAPA High School student Jordan Miles, the Fraternal Order of Police is considering asking the D.A. next week to re-file the charges of prowling, loitering, aggravated assault and resisting arrest.

Miles says three Pittsburgh police officers beat him when they arrested him in Homewood.

"Obviously myself and all the members of the Fraternal Order of Police are very upset about Judge Petite's decision to throw out the charges against Jordan Miles," Charles Hanlon, vice president of the F.O.P., said. "They're destroyed. I have three of the hardest working Pittsburgh police officers that saw their careers take a dive today."

"I don't want to let anybody have the impression on me that I'm some gang-banger or anything just because of the neighborhood I live in," Miles said. "I don't associate with none of that violence. I was just happy to let everybody know that I was telling the truth."

For the first time, one of the three officers, Michael Saldutte, testified Miles ran from a home after they identified themselves as officers. That's when Miles fell and kicked and elbowed the officers.

"If you look at the size and I was adding up in my head that's 600 pounds to 180," Gayle Moss with the Pittsburgh NAACP said. "And you're telling me that you can't control him?"

Officer Saldutte also said prowling victim Monica Wooding, who didn't want her face on camera, said that she "didn't know him" and that "no one should be around her house and property."

But key to the dismissal of the charges was Wooding's testimony that contradicted that statement. She said she never told officers that and said she knows Jordan and his family.

"I think it definitely helped. And she got up there and told the truth and did an excellent job," Terez Miles, Jordan's mother, said. "She is not a stranger to my family."

"The hearing was essentially turned around and our guys were the guilty ones," Hanlon said.

Before any charges can be re-filed, the District Attorney's office says they will first have to review the matter.

Meanwhile, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says he could make a recommendation on the officers' future by next week, but for now, they will remain suspended.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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[Dimentio]

That is utterly revolting. The Pittsburgh police should be purged. I understand the boy if he wanted to hide from the policemen. They sound like high school gangsters.

[Communist]

The FOP tried to instigate a sick out among the Pittsburgh police, where they'd call off sick to protest the charges being dropped. Unbelievable.

It didn't happen.

[bcbm]

The FOP tried to instigate a sick out among the Pittsburgh police, where they'd call off sick to protest the charges being dropped. Unbelievable.


sadly, this sort of thing is pretty common among police. in portland, or a few months ago the police union held a demonstration holding signs saying "we are all christopher humphreys," a police officer who had just shot a 12 year old girl with a bean bag gun and several years earlier was involved in beating a man to death. acab

[entfaltend]

sadly, this sort of thing is pretty common among police. in portland, or a few months ago the police union held a demonstration holding signs saying "we are all christopher humphreys," a police officer who had just shot a 12 year old girl with a bean bag gun and several years earlier was involved in beating a man to death. acab

The charges against her stuck too.

From the Oregonian a couple weeks ago...



A judge ruled Wednesday that a girl who was shot with a beanbag by police must spend a year on probation for hitting an officer during a scuffle.

Multnomah County Judge Paula Kurshner said the girl also must do 24 hours of community service for charges that include resisting arrest and interfering with public transportation.



The girl was charged with interfering with public transportation, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. Police Officers Aaron Dauchy and Chris Humphreys arrested the girl on Nov. 14 when they saw her in a MAX train after she had been excluded from public transportation.

Dauchy approached the girl and tried to arrest her. He says she hit him in the face and he wrestled her to the ground. Humphreys, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with beanbag rounds, joined in the attempt to gain control. He shot her in the thigh.

...

West said Dauchy did not try to defuse the situation. Dauchy stripped off the girl's purse, pulled her arms and raised them behind her and then told her to shut up, using a profanity, according to West.

[Communist]

Thank you both for that information.

no words

I don't recall seeing that story anywhere, and if it went national I think I'd remember. Could have been a one-day newsflash tossed out to make way for the all-important celebrity gossip crap. We miss a lot of serious events that way, and they know it.
I'm going to look this case up and see if it could be a story now, because this is...you know there's no words for this, censored or not.

When will people finally stand and say enough?

[entfaltend]

Thank you both for that information.

no words

I don't recall seeing that story anywhere, and if it went national I think I'd remember. Could have been a one-day newsflash tossed out to make way for the all-important celebrity gossip crap. We miss a lot of serious events that way, and they know it.
I'm going to look this case up and see if it could be a story now, because this is...you know there's no words for this, censored or not.

When will people finally stand and say enough?

It's one of several excessive force incidents that have been in the news here recently. There was also the shooting of Aaron Campbell by another officer with a history, Ronald Frashour.


Officer Ronald Frashour, under scrutiny for last month's fatal shooting of an unarmed man, is also facing other inquiries -- a review of his 2006 firing of a Taser at Frank Waterhouse, who was videotaping officers chasing a suspect; and two lawsuits stemming from Frashour's arrest and pepper-spraying of a woman in a 2007 domestic call.

On Wednesday night, a citizen review panel dived into the police internal affairs investigation stemming from Waterhouse's complaint against the officers who shot him with beanbag rounds and a stun gun May 27, 2006.

Last fall, Waterhouse won a $55,000 federal jury verdict stemming from the police encounter. He had been shot with beanbags by Officer Joshua Bocchino, zapped with a Taser by Frashour and jailed after he videotaped Portland officers searching for a jaywalker who'd run from police. As far as Campbell's death goes, here's a summary of the event run in a recent followup article:



Campbell was shot during an evening standoff with police, who were conducting a welfare check at a Northeast Portland apartment complex. Campbell, who was distraught after his brother died earlier in the day to a long-term disease, appeared ready to surrender to police in the moments before he was shot in the back and killed by Officer Ronald Frashour. Frashour later told a Grand Jury that he thought Campbell was a threat to the safety of others.There's been a pretty strong response from the community demanding better oversight of the police, and changes in the policies surrounding use of force. There have been a number of protests and large gatherings to discuss the issue, though I haven't had the opportunity to be very involved personally.

The police, of course, stand behind their own, and as far as I know haven't budged in defending the killers in their ranks.

(Apologies for not posting links to the originating articles of the quotes, haven't got enough posts to do so yet. They're all from the Oregonian if anyone is interested in delving into it further.)

[Communist]

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Charges dropped against police brutality survivor (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/pittsburgh_0415/)

By Marc Heston
Pittsburgh
Apr 8, 2010


Jordan Miles is one of millions of young Black people in the United States trying to escape the deplorable conditions the racist capitalist establishment subjects African Americans to on a daily basis.

A talented youth who attends a private performing arts school in Pittsburgh, Miles had never been in trouble in his mere 18 years, but late in the evening of January 12 trouble would find him.

Miles was walking to his grandmother’s home when three white undercover police jumped from an unmarked car, yelling things such as, “Where’s the drugs?”

As a terrified Miles turned to run from the police in the freezing weather he quickly fell. That’s when the three officers — Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak — began beating him. After a torrent of kicks, punches and choking that Miles was subjected to for 15 minutes, a police van and uniformed officers arrived.

Miles was treated twice at a local hospital for the injuries sustained in the unprovoked attack. The cops claimed Miles had an object under his jacket, which they stated at first was a gun and later revised to a bottle of Mountain Dew.

Miles was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest while the three cops were assigned to desk duties.

Reaction was swift and resolute. Jordan’s mother, Terez Miles, undertook an extensive media awareness campaign, releasing horrific photos of her brutalized son to the public. Miles stated that her son, unarmed and at 150 pounds, was certainly no threat.

On Jan. 26, around 60 of Miles’ fellow students joined with activists in an emotionally charged march in the cold Pittsburgh weather demanding, “Justice for Jordan!” Mayor Luke Ravenstahl launched another so-called investigation into the incident, as the cops were given what amounts to a paid vacation.

After hearings and a lie detector test, which Jordan passed with flying colors, the outcry for charges against Miles to be dropped was finally acknowledged. On March 4 Magisterial District Judge Oscar Petite dismissed all charges, ostensibly because of perjured information from a witness and the lack of the mythical Mountain Dew bottle being turned in as evidence.

Mass pressure proved to be decisive in exonerating Miles.

Meanwhile, the notorious Fraternal Order of Police immediately expressed outrage at the dismissed charges and began an unsuccessful campaign to have them reinstated and the officers’ probation ended. FOP vice president Charles Hanlon would even say, “I have three of the hardest working Pittsburgh police officers that saw their careers take a dive.” (kdka.com, March 4)

Jordan Miles is now one of millions in the U.S. who must deal not only with institutional oppression but also the physical brutality of living while Black.
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Articles copyright 1995-2010 Work (http://www.workers.org/)ers W (http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background)orld (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/). (http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background) Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

.

[Communist]

.
The above is most likely the final report on Miles that we'll do; everything has calmed now, there's nothing being said at the moment - although a civil suit is likely to happen in the future. The FOP even appears to have had enough of their appalling show to raise funds from their neo-fascist membership.

However, it's tragically unlikely that we won't be doing similar reports on racist police brutality in the weeks, months and years ahead. But we will all work towards a different kind of future, a socialist one.

Everyone appreciates the support that has been given to Jordan Miles from some members of RevLeft. These things do mean a lot.

.