**Update-Jan 25th 2009 Paradise Gray of X-Clan who first alerted us to this tragedy has dropped us some action steps that folks can and should take around this incident..
We will follow up on this..
1. Attend the 9:00 a.m. news conference on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at the City-County Building, Fifth Floor in front of City Council Chambers.
2. Drop off (in person) letters of protest, with regard to the incident, to the Mayor’s Office.
3. Speak to City Council Members at the 10:00 a.m. January 26, 2010 regularly scheduled City Council hearing.
4. Speak to the City Police Review Board at the 6:00 p.m. hearing in City Council Chambers on January 26, 2010.
Sadly 2010 is off to a shakey start with the story of this horrific police beating of an young violinist Jordan Miles who just several months ago played for First Lady Michele Obama… This comes on the heels of recent stats showing that in 2009 close to 70 people were shot and killed by police in Houston/Harris County in Texas. This year 2010 9 have been shot and killed.. 20-30 were killed in LA County in California.. An Oakland police officer accused of killing two unarmed men and shooting a third who was in a wheel chair had his case dismissed by a judge..In Austin, Texas an officer who shot a man last may Nathaniel Saunders while he slept in the back of his car was let off for lack of evidence. The shooting sparked off a mini-riot especially when it was learned the officer’s car camera was not on during the shooting..All this is very disturbing and in many of our minds calls for major investigations and overhauls by the Department of Justice..
-Davey D-
Police brutality charge by teen disturb mayor
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10023/1030533-53.stm
Jordan Miles is a 18 year old violinist who played for First Lady Michele Obama
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he is “very troubled” by claims that a Homewood high school student was beaten by undercover police.
Jordan Miles, 18, was treated at a hospital twice after an arrest last week by three plainclothes Pittsburgh police officers. Police suspected he had a concealed gun and — after a chase and a struggle with the Creative and Performing Arts High School senior — concluded he was holding a bottle of Mountain Dew instead. He was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest, but when officers did not show for a court hearing Thursday, the matter was postponed.
Mr. Miles took several blows to the head and face, was Tasered and had a chunk of hair ripped from his head, his lawyer said. He was walking between homes owned by his mother and grandmother when police stopped him.
Police claimed that they identified themselves to Mr. Miles and repeatedly tried to subdue the 18 year old after he fled.
Read more:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10023/1030533-53.stm#ixzz0dYPhW1c5
Mother alleges son brutalized by police
By Jeremy Boren and Adam Brandolph
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_663712.html?sms_ss=twitter
Jordan Miles before the police beating
The mother of a high school senior who performed for first lady Michelle Obama while she was in Pittsburgh in September says her son did not deserve to be “brutally attacked” by police officers outside his home earlier this month.
“Jordan is an excellent kid. He’s very quiet and takes school seriously,” said his mother, Terez Miles, 38. “He knows nothing about drugs, drug dealing or anything like that. He didn’t deserve this.”
Jordan Miles, 18, a senior at the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, Downtown, alleges that three Pittsburgh police officers beat him during an arrest outside his house on Tioga Street in Homewood about 11 p.m. on Jan. 12.
The city Office of Municipal Investigations is looking into a complaint filed by Miles, whom officers said kicked and elbowed them when they tried to arrest him.
The officers involved in the incident were Richard Ewing, David Sisak and Michael Saldutte, according to court records. Each officer was hired in September 2005 and is paid a base salary of $56,150 a year, the rate for fourth-year officers.
Jordan Miles in hospital after police beating
Police Chief Nate Harper said all three officers were reassigned from their plainclothes unit to uniformed duties. Harper said no further action will be taken until the investigation is complete.
Miles’ mother is “angry” and “frustrated” that the officers have not been more seriously reprimanded.
“I feel like they should be fired,” she said. “There’s no way they can justify what they did.”
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl yesterday called the allegations “very troubling.”
“It seems as if there was a tremendous amount of force used,” Ravenstahl said a day after news broke about the incident. “The question now needs to be answered: Was it appropriate use of force?”
Ravenstahl said the complaint is being taken “very seriously.” If the amount of force the police used wasn’t appropriate, “they will be held accountable,” he said.
Through his attorney, J. Kerrington Lewis, Miles said he fought to defend himself from what he thought was an attack because the officers did not identify themselves as police officers and they were not wearing uniforms.
“We’ve lived in Homewood all our lives,” Terez Miles said. “I’ve told him to be wary of people that might want to do him harm, but I never imagined it would be police officers that would attack and brutally beat him up.”
In a criminal complaint, the officers contend they identified themselves and that Saldutte held up a police badge attached to a necklace.
Miles suffered a swollen face, hair ripped from his scalp and a twig jabbed through his gum during the incident, his mother said. Miles has not returned to CAPA, where he is an honors student and plays the viola, his mother said.
Jordan Miles recovering
Miles played his instrument for the first lady and the spouses of the delegates of the Group of 20 economic summit when they visited CAPA.
Miles was treated at West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield. Sisak was treated at UPMC Mercy, Uptown, for unspecified injuries, according to the complaint. In a report, Ewing said the officers knocked Miles to the ground and struck him with their knees and fists after an attempt to incapacitate him with a Taser failed.
Police first tried to question Miles because he was outside in a poorly lit area at 11 p.m. and appeared to have a weapon in the right pocket of his heavy coat. The item turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew. Police said Miles ran away from them, refused to comply with commands and struggled when they tried to handcuff him. Miles was on his way from his mother’s house to his grandmother’s, where he often sleeps, his mother said.
Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board, said the officers should be reprimanded, offering an alternative assignment to the warrant office or desk duty where they wouldn’t have interaction with the public.
“They should just be taken off the street until this is resolved,” she said.
Miles has been accepted to Pennsylvania State University, where he wants to study to be a crime scene investigator, a dream that may be in jeopardy because of the pending criminal charges, his mother said.
“I hope the charges against my son will be dropped. He’s completely innocent,” she said. “I’m just glad they didn’t kill him.”
Someone needs to revive the Black Liberation Army (BLA). This is too much!
Meanwhile at KPFA….
2. Staff Changes:
Philip Maldari was appointed to be the host for the Sunday Sedition Show and Brian Edwards Tiekert will be replacing Philip on the morning show.
And, just fyi, all the recent staff appointments have been white males including:
1. Development Director
2. Webmaster
3. New Morning Show co-host
4. Sunday Sedition
5. Letters from Washington
The only position changes that did not involve white males is Amelia Gonzalez as the interim Assistant GM, and Sasha Lilley being removed from the interim Program Director position. My cynical belief is that both of these staff changes were to ensure that these two women are protected by the union.
These changes certainly have not helped Nora Barrows Friedman whose hours were cut from 40 per week to 20 per week, and who is a union member and has more seniority than Brian ET and should have been considered for the Morning Show co-host position or another time slot with 40 hours if her hours needed to be reduced.
__________________________
prophet E. Bernard Jordan prophesied that treatment of African – americans will be as before the Civil Rights Movement in his book “Written Judgements” We have to be aware of the times we are in and expose these evils. Don’t let the media rest!
I guess that whole Change thing equals the same. The cops are always shooting blacks in inglewood.
I say fuck the police and the justice dept. Fuck them all. Most cops are corrupt and the higher up the ranks, the more corrupt they are.
We wont even mention how crooked Lee Baca the LA county sheriff is. Taxation without representation, change equals the worse.
and its not a race thing either, as black and latino cops are indeed the worst.
the whole plainclothed officer thing is one of the many ways the police traffic dope.
WE BLACK PPL GOTTA DO SUMN,FUKK A REPRIMAND..A FIRING..SUE THE MOTHAFUKKING POLICE DEPT..IF THAT DONT WORK..WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THESE GUN TOTING GANGSTAZ AND THUGZ? IF THEM NIKKAS WANNA SHOOT AND KILL..HOW ABOUT THESE CORRUPT AZZ POLICE? BUT AS ALWAYS, BLACKS AND BROWNS ARE SCRAED OF MASSA AND HIS WATCHDOGS..SMH
Whatever dude , nigger got what he deserved
Sure dude . Just remember you said that when ” This same type thing happens to one of your children
parents……or YOU ” Because regardless your color or belief’s the Big question is …..Who`s Next ?
Look in the mirror NOW !
For when we settle for less…
You can be-LIE-ve in the true lies passed down from master’s hand to the mind of slaves since the dawn of the ages
All I ask is how can help be on the way when we are ALL already dead?
And forget what you heard about what any deity says is the right way to go,
For niggas saggin in the hood seems to possess more power over life and death than any martyr could ever pray or sacrifice his ONLY life for
Seems the more time changes, the more ignorant and afraid we get
For instance,
Many still listen to doctrines demanding their allegiance, wholeheartedly, in the unseen
Never once stopping to ask why the main protagonist doesn’t have to prove shit to us so-thought lowly, lesser hue-man beings
Perhaps we are children of a lesser god indeed?
The things I know and have seen makes the choicest, strongest weed seem like mere tobacco
I’ve long grown sick of being a product of my surrounding
Long grown sick of that which never lets up or lets go
And if you ain’t know,
Life ain’t the so-called bitch and sleep ain’t the cousin of death
The true bitch is the ability to hope in a world filled with so much hopelessness
While the real cousin of death is looking back, at the end of your life, at a life filled with nothing but regret…
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This a serious problem and brotha in the community needs to implement the “Community Justice Law” on these cops who violet their oaths, badges and citizens trust. Rev Sharpton,Farrkhan and Jackson are afraid to issue the call to truly deal with this. “”All the brothas needs to arm themselves and track down the perpetrators of crimes against the community, but first the ignorant amonst them must be dispelled. Protest, Prayers and allowing criminals in goverment whether local,state or federal is not and never will be the soloution. Negros in the community have the guns pointed in the wrong direction and killing the victims of racism and white supremacy. If this was happening to white children across the nation like this you would see revoloution in the country….Stop all the praying and retaliate a eye-for-eye, tooth-for tooth and Life for a life.. This madness would have ended in the post reconstruction period and it have only escalated to what it is now. Sorry for the good officers caught up in this madness, but get your partners house clean…
this is so wrong how could the policde do such a thing like this
@Nggier:
Either you’re a red-neck racist @$$ kracker or a dumb @$$ nigger but either way we’re coming for you and when we catch your worthless @$$ we’re going to air your worthless @$$ out!
RESPECT to GOLDIE and Dumei Wei! We need more soldiers like the both of you because we, Blacks, have entirely too many phucking cowards on our team. Whether you weak kneed negros like it or not
WAR IS ON THE HORIZON!
Dumei Wei…Everyone understands your raw emotions. I said the very same thing to my wife when I read the tragic story. I even suggested that when an officer assaults or kills our children, we should track down their children and do the same. After my rant, I soon realized that it would only exacerbate things. Sure, it would cause white officers to reconsider their hateful racist reactions to anything two shades darker than them, but it also drags us down to their level. That is why God never allowed the eye-for-an-eye, because it turns you into the very people whose behaviors we detest. Its not cowardice to appeal to those authorities pledged to protect us from these heinous acts of violence by those sworn to SERVE and PROTECT. Its what God -fearing, law-abiding citizens should do. Trust me, there is a God and one day soon all who have violated His laws regarding our fellowmen/women will have to give an account. It may not appease us who want JUSTICE NOW, but on that day justice will truly be satisfied. A more effective reaction would be to begin national boycotts of paying taxes for local police officers salaries who are murdering and abusing our children and people. DON’T BUY products that have taxes which go towards salaries. It would force local city officials to deal with us, the ones who are paying their income. We are not helpless or powerless in this . There is plenty that can be done. Stay hopeful, stay courageous and stay focused. Violence begets violence, but even the wisdom of the small can overthrow the power of kings.
Putting ALL your faith in an UNSEEN GOD is an excuse to do NOTHING and is COWARDICE, PERIOD. At the end of the day our enemies know the only thing negros are going to do is march and protest and sing “we shall overcome” and talk about boycotting. That’s why these type of incidents by in large involve negros. For the most part you don’t see this happening to any other racial or ethnic group. Because for the most part these other groups have something that we, Blacks, are sorely lacking and that’s a LOVE FOR SELF. When your enemy knows that you’ll do whatever is necessary to protect your women and children the bullshyt will cease and desist.
You mofo’s keep bustin’ notes and praying, while your kids are being executed. As far as the BLA? you can forget that, your friendly President would take honor in bringing that down to appeal to his “melanin” challenged friends (I’m glad the media is destroying is @*#). I hate this happened to this young man, but it’s good for Black america, because eventually we’ll get tired of doing NOTHING and get back to our basic principles of loving ourselves. BlackOps is on point, cause the enemy knows where the weakest chain in the link is. I tell my kid all the time, America ain’t the place for you, and it never will be. Don’t buy into all that hype about milk and honey, that’s strictly fluff for the uneducated or if you don’t know any better.
This is rediculous!! Seriously im tired of this shit!! I don’t understand why they kep hiring these punk ass redneck police officers…..I blame the police department for this shit.
I feel for this dude I really do!! Sue the whole damn police department!!
Get the glocks and gauges and hunt down tha crackas and execute them. FUCK tha police officers and tha police department!!!!!!!!FUCK THA DEVILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When will cops start snitching?
If you think this is bad….wait until the Iraq and Afganistan vets get home and apply for jobs as police officers…They already suffer with post traumatic stress syndrome and when they take the oath…LOOK OUT!
I think the saddest part is that the Mother says “She is just glad that they didn’t kill him”. That is the insanity of a lot of africans today. Step outside of our community, this just does not happen to other communities.
Christianity and MLK non-violent has really brainwashed many. As a parent I would be willing to risk my life over things of this nature, if I died everything I own would go to my child anyways. Why let my child’s spirit be beaten out.
This is a good kid. With obviously a good natured family. The crazy thing is, even a ghetto family wouldn’t let you beat a good for nothing nigga down like that. Wake up people. Call your relatives and kin’folk when you need to!
This young man was beaten like a stray dog.