Man whose mom was shot by police in South Side acquitted of charges

An Allegheny County jury on Wednesday acquitted a man whose mother was shot by police officers during a police chase of more than two dozen charges.

Donald Burris Jr., 33, of Carnegie faced 13 felony counts of aggravated assault and 14 misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person. The jury convicted him on two counts of fleeing from police.

Burris' lawyer, Anne Marie Mancuso, did not return a message. Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, declined comment.

Police said Burris ran a red light in Homestead and took off when they tried to pull him over on Jan. 13, 2013.

He led officers on a chase for about 5 miles to East Carson Street on the South Side, where he smashed his Buick into parked cars as bars were letting out shortly before 2 a.m. He stopped near 13th Street as four off-duty Pittsburgh police officers fired multiple shots into his car.

At least one of the bullets struck Burris' passenger — his mother, Lena Davenport, 50, of Wilkinsburg — in the head. She underwent multiple surgeries and a partial removal of her skull. Another bullet grazed a pedestrian.

Davenport filed a federal lawsuit against two Homestead police officers, four Pittsburgh police officers, the city and Homestead in February 2013. He alleged that the Homestead officers did not follow orders to terminate the chase, city officers used too much force in opening fire, and that both municipalities should have been better prepared to handle a car chase.

Two weeks after the shooting, then-city police Chief Nate Harper issued an order prohibiting officers from firing into a moving vehicle “unless there are shots being fired from that vehicle.”

Burris and Davenport were not armed.