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Friday, 28 January 2011 06:00

The undercover officers, who were sweeping the street for illegal guns, said a bulge in Mr. Miles' pocket caught their attention. They said they identified themselves before the student ran away. The officers are white; Mr. Miles is black.

When the officers caught the lanky senior of the city's Creative and Performing Arts High School, they apparently didn't go easy. Photos of Mr. Miles' swollen face testify to the rough treatment he received. To add insult to injury, Mr. Miles was charged with resisting arrest, charges that were thrown out a few weeks later.

Officers Michael Saldutte, Richard Ewing and David Sisak were put on paid leave pending a review by the Office of Municipal Investigations. While OMI reports typically are not made public, this case attracted so much attention that the findings should have been released. One year after the incident, Pittsburgh is still waiting.

Mr. Miles since has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and the officers for using excessive force. The suit is in mediation. Meanwhile, the Justice Department, which has jurisdiction over the case, was conducting its own investigation last year, but no charges have been announced.

A year after what looks like the unnecessarily harsh treatment of a law-abiding citizen, there is no sign of movement toward a just conclusion.

Pittsburghers have a right to know what happened to Jordan Miles. He and the officers have a right to see the facts aired in public. Until that day, a cloud will hang over Pittsburgh and what passes for justice, accountability and transparency in this city.

Comments (1)

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written by Quipman, January 28, 2011 - 03:42 PM

You get what you vote for. When you continue to elect people who are at best appear to want nothing for themselves or the city or care little about the very people who foolishly vote for these dishonest anti-intellectuals they play the voting public for just what they perceive them to be fools! Because to takes one to know one.

When are the majority undereducated public going to stop electing people to office for all the wrong reasons. Your neighbors and all the people in Pittsburgh who really do care about the city deserve better. Miles deserves better the young people who look at this city and shack their head in disbelief deserve better. But until the majority undereducated public die off or smarten up Pittsburgh as a city will continue to be the looked upon as a city of corrupted dummies.

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