A Homewood teenager at the center of a racially charged police brutality investigation celebrated with his family Thursday when a judge dismissed charges from his arrest by officers he says beat him.
"This proves I was telling the truth. I didn't want people to look at me negatively," Jordan Miles, 18, said after a contentious hearing in Pittsburgh Municipal Court. "They asked me, 'Where's your gun, money and drugs?' All kinds of thoughts went through my head. I thought I was going to get robbed."
Pittsburgh police filed assault and other charges against Miles, saying the honors student at the Creative and Performing Arts High School ran from and then fought with officers late Jan. 12 near his home. Miles said he didn't know the three plainclothes officers were police and that they beat him.
District Judge Oscar Petite dismissed the case, saying he considers "the totality of the circumstances" to determine whether a crime was committed.
"A young man is walking in his own neighborhood, whether that's a high-crime area or not, and he's approached by an undercover officer. From that point, this thing goes downhill," Petite said.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said the judge's decision will allow the Office of Municipal Investigations to conclude its review of the incident. Ravenstahl placed Officers Michael Saldutte, David Sisak and Richard Ewing on paid leave during the internal investigation and another by the FBI.
"I believe we have to suspend judgment (on the officers) and wait for the investigation report," said City Councilman Ricky Burgess of Homewood, who has proposed a bill to require that police meet accreditation standards set by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and to place officers on paid leave after possible abuse incidents.
Black leaders asked prosecutors to drop the case against Miles, who is black, and some sought criminal charges against the white officers.
"Anytime charges are dismissed at the preliminary hearing stage, our office reviews the matter, said Mike Manko, spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. "In this instance, the judge assigned substantial legal significance to the testimony of the victim of the prowling charge. Our office will have to take a close look at that."
More than a dozen police officers, nearly all of them white, crowded on one side of the courtroom while dozens of mostly black supporters of Miles packed the opposite side.
"We firmly believe there was enough evidence to hold those charges and they should have been addressed at the Common Pleas Court level, not the magistrate level," said Chuck Hanlon, vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1. "We plan to lobby the district attorney pretty hard to refile those charges."
Tim Stevens, head of the Black Political Empowerment Project and leader of a January march to City Hall by Miles' classmates, said federal authorities should charge the officers.
"The community doesn't seem to get too many victories in these situations, and this was one many folks felt that was so ludicrous and outrageous and needed to be dropped," Stevens said.
Petite said if prosecutors refile charges, police should revise their statement in an arrest affidavit. It said, among other things, that Monica Wooding, who lives at the house where they arrested Miles, told them he shouldn't have been on her property.
Wooding testified police never asked her and that Miles is her son's friend.
Saldutte testified he identified himself and displayed his badge. He said Miles appeared to be hiding against the house in a poorly lit area and the officers decided to investigate.
Miles appeared to have a weapon in his heavy coat, but the item turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew, Saldutte said. Miles said he didn't have a Mountain Dew.
"I told him to take his hand out of his pocket," Saldutte said. Miles started to run, slipped on ice and fought with officers as they tried to subdue him, Saldutte said.
Miles said the officers jumped on him. "I didn't fight back," he said. "Every officer was bigger than me."
Ravenstahl said he plans to talk to police Chief Nate Harper next week about the officers' status. Harper declined to comment.
