Police blamed in Mt. Oliver death
Mt. Oliver police officers should be charged in the Dec. 23 suffocation death of an Altoona man, Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht said Monday. But Wecht doesn't know which ones.
Ruling that the death of Charles Dixon Sr. following a struggle with Mt. Oliver police was a homicide, Wecht said that Dixon, 43, had committed no crime when officers killed the 300-pound man by smothering him face-down.
"The circumstances were not such as to have warranted this kind of response from police officers," Wecht said at a news conference.
Wecht urged District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. to find out which officers piled onto Dixon while arresting him at a birthday party at the Mt. Oliver fire station and to prosecute those responsible.
Zappala's office released a statement vowing to thoroughly investigate Dixon's death before deciding whether to file charges. Zappala declined a request for an interview.
Mt. Oliver Solicitor James Perich declined to comment on Wecht's ruling until he has a chance to study it. Mt. Oliver police Chief Frank Mosesso declined to comment, and a message seeking comment from Mt. Oliver Mayor John W. Smith Jr. was not returned.
Wecht and hearing officer William Manifesto, a Pittsburgh defense attorney, said conflicting testimony at a March open inquest into Dixon's death left them unable to determine which officers were responsible.
The Dec. 21 struggle that led to Dixon's death two days later began when Dixon's brother, Gregory, stepped from a buffet line and dipped his hand into a bowl of spaghetti, instead of waiting to be served, according to Wecht's written report.
Police hired to provide security for the party then approached Gregory Dixon, according to the report, prompting Charles Dixon to try to pull his brother away. Police then tried to arrest Charles Dixon, he tried to back away, and a dispute began. Reinforcements were called in.
What happened next is unclear.
Partygoers testified at the inquest that a dozen or more officers piled onto Dixon, while some officers said they used only necessary force and others said they did not see the struggle.
Wecht said that even obese men like Dixon do not suffocate themselves. "Just lying face-down is not considered to be sufficient," the coroner said.
Dixon's cause of death -- positional asphyxiation in medical terms -- also killed Moon motorist Jonny Gammage in a controversial 1995 case. Gammage died after five suburban police officers handcuffed him and placed him on his stomach after a traffic stop.
Three officers were charged with involuntary manslaughter. One was acquitted; the cases of the other two officers ended in mistrials.
Wecht said police forces nationwide know the perils of placing suspects on their stomachs, and said Mt. Oliver police used excessive force for a minor incident.
"If trained police officers can't handle that without 13 officers piling on somebody," he said, "then there's something wrong with the training of the officers."
Wecht said Dixon's arrest was "illegal" because he committed no crime, and it was not even he who touched the spaghetti.
"That's the perceived crime here," Wecht said.
He added, however, that people do not have the right to resist arrests, no matter how wrongful.
Charles Dixon's son, Charles Dixon Jr., a student at Penn State University, said justice has been served so far.
"I was hoping and expecting for it to go the way it did, and I'm happy it did," he said.
Community activist Renee Wilson, who said Dixon's death was the spark the led to the creation of the group People Against Police Violence, said she is only partly satisfied with Wecht's ruling because no one has yet been charged.
"If they can't sort out who gets charged, they get away with murder," Wilson said.
She said there were more than 100 people in the room during the party, so there should be no shortage of credible witnesses. Wilson said People Against Police Violence will hold a news conference Thursday in Mt. Oliver to press for action on the Dixon case and to pressure the borough on what she said is a continuing racial problem there.
Wilson said race also could play a role in whether Dixon's family gets justice.
Dixon's family has filed a civil rights lawsuit against six Mt. Oliver officers, the borough, its mayor and two Pittsburgh officers called in as backup on the night of the incident. A pretrial conference is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab later this summer.
Wecht said he does not "for one minute accept" that police in Fox Chapel or Mt. Lebanon or other wealthy areas would have responded to a buffet faux pas as Mt. Oliver police did.
"Gregory Dixon was not loud, boisterous, or threatening, although he was clearly lacking in socially acceptable conduct at that moment," Wecht's report says.
Additional Information:
Waiting for decisions
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. hasn't yet decided whether to file criminal charges in several high-profile deaths:
