"Brutality charged as Pittsburgh police defend 'fist strikes' on teen"


http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/22/pennsylvania.arrest.dispute/index.html?hpt=Sbin


"(CNN) -- An arrest in which several punches were thrown has triggered an accusation of brutality against Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, police from the mother of the 18-year-old honor student who was taken into custody.

Police, in a criminal complaint on the incident, say "closed fist strikes" were used by the undercover police officers, but only to subdue the teenager as he tried to get away.

His mother said she plans to file a civil rights claim against the officers.

Terez Miles said her son, Jordan Miles, who is black, thought his life was in jeopardy when three white men jumped out of a car on the night of January 11 as he walked not far from his home.

"My son tried to run thinking his life was in jeopardy," Terez Miles said. "He made three steps before he slipped and fell." After that, she said, the police used a stun gun and beat him, pulling out a chunk of his hair.

The criminal complaint says the officers, considering Jordan Miles' appearance suspicious, got out of the car and identified themselves as police. He tried to flee, fell, and then struggled to escape.

The officers "delivered 2-3 closed fist strikes to Miles' head/face with still no effect," and then a "knee strike to Miles' head causing him to momentarily stop resisting," so that he could be handcuffed, the document says.

Miles' mother said the officers did not identify themselves as police to her son, a viola player and student at the city's Creative and Performing Arts High School.

The complaint says the police officers believed Miles was engaged in criminal activity and possibly armed with a "large heavy object." The object turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew.

Miles was charged with aggravated assault, loitering, resisting arrest and escape.

A hearing in the case was scheduled for Thursday, but it was unclear whether the officers involved showed up, said Miles' attorney, Kerry Lewis. The judge postponed the case until February 18.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is "taking this very seriously," said his press secretary, Joanna Doven. "The case is being investigated, he's closely monitoring it. He's met with the chief."

The three officers were taken off plainclothes duty and were back in uniform, she said.

Terez Miles contends the officers used too much force.

"My son is 150 pounds and 5-foot-6. There's no need for this degree of violence and brutality for someone of this stature," she said.

Lewis said Jordan Miles has no criminal record."



You're a juror in this case and the facts have been presented. I think the police went way out of line in this incident, and not only should they be fired, they should be criminally prosecuted for their conduct. A civil suit should definitely be considered in this matter as well.

5'6" 150 vs 3 heavily trained police officers with tasers? Sounds fair to me... Get that checkbook out Pittsburgh.

Another example of the presumption of guilt and rush to judgement by law enforcement and the overkill mindset and prejudice so many of the Blue seem to have across the U.S., not just Pittsburgh.

If we have all the facts, it appears to be classic excessive force and I think Pittsburgh will be paying.

what year is it again? This smells of the 60's

It remains to be seen how many more facts and testimonials we will recieve concerning this case and will be reported by the media. I think the initial shock factor is why CNN picked it up. But I certainly hope they do a follow up on it, because this smells like racial profiling, and foregoing of probable cause. The police in general have expanded an extremely loose definition as to what probable cause is. It affects all races, not just African Americans, although African Americans are definitely singled out to a larger degree.

..i personally will wait til all facts are in rather than rush to judgement like most folks will do ...

Of course, I usually wait a minimum of ONE month for all the different spins on the truth and try to syphon out the reality, before I come to a conclusion.

My sister was upset at the cops in the "'Burgh" a year or so ago because a friend of hers who was mentally unstable to begin with was killed in a confrontation with police. He had been kicked out of the rooming house where he had been living because of making noise and starting problems with other tennants, and he tried to break back in to get his stuff. (I think he was told to come back when there was police supervision, because he was so much trouble. Sis won't tell me that though, got that from another party.) When the cops showed up, he was waving a gun that he wasn't supposd to have, but his friends knew him to have, and he got shot. One round to the chest, one round to the head. Killed instantly. It was discovered afterward that he was off his meds, and had been for some time. But rumor has it that PPD could have to pay his family some retribution. The cops should know to be sure of what they are doing and to whom before they do it. Stuff like this can't be taken back. It's like putting toothpaste back in the tube.

I agree , in the case of someone waving a gun even, I can understand potentially lethal force.

they really kicked the crap out of him.. he looks like the elephant man..

these cops are going down..

They better go down, it's a crying damned travesty what they did to Jordan Miles. This case in particular, but also in similar or related cases like this across the country.

ummmmmm no

no facts are presented here

a news story from CNN is heresay

its not possible to make a decision one way or the other with what's repesented

you can say if this or that but any decision made just fromn this story isnt possible

well it is for some but then they would be just like the police officers leaping to a conclusion

I have always wondered about the identification thing. The same thing happened to my brother in his teens while he was getting off a bus. Plain clothes policeman started after him and he ran.

If I am a kid and intimidated by an adult in some way, am I gonna run out of fear of this adult or am I going to stop and let them catch me long enough for me to 'verify' they are who they say they are....


seems anyone can CLAIM to be a cop,,if they arent in the clothes how do you know,

heck , nowadays, they can be in the clothes and STILL not really be a cop(we had one in Las Vegas used a uniform to pick up boys and molest them).

Does the law give consideration of the very real and in many parts very justified fear people have about frauds and crooked cops?

they really kicked the crap out of him.. he looks like the elephant man..

these cops are going down..

you should not judge them to much . its hard enough to get them to respond as is . if they continue to come down on cops they won't even answer there calls . a punch in the head is not normally lethal.
they work out so that they can drop a guy fash . the kid did try to run and they wouldn't know why .
Of course he well get a lot of tax money for this . that well help in his college years .
if there is someone out there who thinks they can do better have at it but this place is over run with crime and as long as its that way and the inocent are running expect this to happen more .

you should not judge them to much . its hard enough to get them to respond as is . if they continue to come down on cops they won't even answer there calls . a punch in the head is not normally lethal.
they work out so that they can drop a guy fash . the kid did try to run and they wouldn't know why .
Of course he well get a lot of tax money for this . that well help in his college years .
if there is someone out there who thinks they can do better have at it but this place is over run with crime and as long as its that way and the inocent are running expect this to happen more .



true and as long as we are over run with crime that cops are not immune to committing,, innocent people will continue to run
its a vicious circle, but like a parent with a child,, the cop is expected to know better

true and as long as we are over run with crime that cops are not immune to committing,, innocent people will continue to run
its a vicious circle, but like a parent with a child,, the cop is expected to know better
[/quote
I had a friend in la who is black and old . he was going home on a bus 1 night after work . he is skinny lite weight guy . he got of the bus and a big black guy pounded him into dirt and took his 4 dollars .
He had called the cops and they searched the neighborhoods around the bus stop and saw a black that matched the describion and he took of running what would YOU do to stop him , say please ?
in real the cops , they didn't look any one for the reasons all ready stated .

I am not a trained policeman, but my common sense would dictate to me that if I am not in uniform I may not be convincing as a cop and I would probably call for uniformed back up while continuing to pursue(not subdue) the perp.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette has more information about this than the CNN article does. With what has been made public it is very difficult to accept the police story that they believed an object hidden under his coat was a weapon. They were in a car and he was in his yard. It was 11 pm.. they kicked the crap out of him and all he had was a mountain dew bottle..

That is ridiculous..

A voice of reason.

I would like to hear the actual full story.