To Protect & Serve?

Jordan Miles After his Encounter with Pittsburgh Police In January 2010

 Teen sues city, 3 suspended officers

Check out the link above. It’s a story that has first came out in January of this year I believe. While I will be honest I WAS NOT THERE! I can't confirm or deny anything that was said or done. To be honest based on those facts I probably should just post the story & leave it alone. But you already know I have to weigh in! Basically Jordan Miles a young African American male walking through one of Pittsburgh worst neighborhoods (Homewood) at night was stopped by police who were in plain clothes in an unmarked car. Oh! There were 3 of them. So lets recap this

-Young Black Male

         -WALKING      

         -ALONE 

-HomeWood

-Late Night

-Stopped by 3 PLAIN CLOTHES POLICE OFFICERS 

-They were In an UNMARKED CAR (see more after the jump)

That is adding up to a real problem for me. So the story goes on that the police officers stopped Mr. Miles who attempted to RUN from the scene as he was trying to get away he tripped & fell & was subsequently beaten & battered by 3 trained police officers. The attorney representing the officers said in the article I posted "Why would he run". (for a sensible response see the 5 listed items above). To make matters worse Mr. Miles says the police did not immediately identify themselves as police. HMM I already KNOW I'm running but then again you won't catch me walking in Homewood PERIOD. So anyway, Mr. Miles is attempting to sue the police who as you can see from the photo severely beat him. Their reasoning? His coat looked as though it was carrying something heavy (later found to possibly be a bottle of Mountain Dew). Really quick though it was JANUARY AT NIGHT IN PITTSBURGH if your coat doesn't look heavy & isn't actually heavy then my friend you have a SERIOUS problem! All the charges brought against Mr. Miles were dropped a few months ago so all of this was for nothing?

I don't appreciate the actions of the Pittsburgh Police in this case & many others including how they handled the celebratory crowd after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup a few years ago, how they handled the crowd during the G20 Summit & basically their approach toward dealing with crowds period. Even as I type that I realize how crazy it sounds but take a walk with me let me tell you a story….

I'm with my beautiful wife, my older cousin & his then girlfriend now wife. We are down at Steelhouse in Station Square watching the Pens game once they won we wanted to walk through the South Side and just celebrate with other happy Yinzers. We get down there find a place to park walk over to Carson (we parked in the lot near Cupples Stadium) we got just beyond the 10th street bridge (which was closed blocked off from vehicle traffic by a police car) a few blocks down the near Ace Athletic the entire road & sidewalks were lined with Riot Police & Police on horseback. There was not one person vandalizing a thing no one was fighting just a sea of drunk excited Penguins fans wanting to come together & celebrate in the city of ChampYinz.. The police yell at the crowd to "GET OUT OF THE STREET" but wait….the police on horseback had the sidewalks blocked off. I get they didn't want us on Carson St that’s fine I can have drinks somewhere else. But for people who just wanted to get down the block to meet people or to go HOME they weren't allowed to walk down Carson? Ok I get it they were trying to keep a riot from starting I get that. I actually respect it because things can get out of hand. The thing that really bothered me is that at first the crowd didn't get it so the police became very aggressive one guy who had just walked up & realized what was happening started chanting "LETS GO PENS". One of the riot police walked over to him & bashed him in the ribs & head throw him to the ground & arrested him. Now last time I checked it wasn't illegal to chant "Lets Go Pens" but I guess I could be wrong? Anyway from that point the Mounted Police (I guess that might be what they call the ones on horseback?) started approaching the crowd which was already turning back & walked WEST on Carson meaning we were walking towards Station Square LEAVING the area. The Mounted Police decide the crowd wasn't moving fast enough & one of them actually ran into one fan with the horse from behind. Long story short if they are here to "Protect & Serve" in these cases who is being protected & who is being served? I understand that no body wants to see Carson St businesses get ruined by drunken fans I GET IT! I get that things can get out of hand but what I don't get is this over aggressive behavior this police display in these cases. I do my best to avoid police at all costs to avoid being the next Jordan Miles. Mr. Miles I am praying for you and your family I am also praying for the police officers involved as I said I WAS NOT THERE! So I can't say what actually happened. I do strongly suggest they raise the drink tax back to 10% & spend a few million on training this police officers on how to deal with various situations. Spend some $ on Pysch evaluations as well some of these police have to be on edge esp. after those police officers were shot & killed recently. Its not an easy job & I appreciate anyone brave enough to do it THE RIGHT WAY! For now that just was on the Brain of BMW feel free to comment below share your stories thoughts etc.

Until next Time!!

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.