Thursday, December 9, 2010

Miles' Suit Against Police Goes to Mediator

Attorneys for a Pittsburgh teen and 3 city police officers accused of beating him in January want a mediator to try to settle a civil rights lawsuit. All lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh must opt for mediation or some form of arbitration before they can proceed to trial. Attorneys for 19 year old Jordan Miles of Homewood and the officers selected arbitration. Miles, who was a senior at Pittsburgh's Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) High School at the time, claims the 3 white officers beat him because they assumed he was a troublemaker...a young black man walking at night in a high crime area. Miles says he was walking from his house to his grandmother's home.
The officers charged Miles with trespassing and claimed he had a gun, but they say it turned out to be a soda bottle. However, Miles denies he even had that. A judge threw out the trespassing charge against Miles when a property owner contradicted the police account and said Miles was a friend of her son. The officers remain on paid administrative leave.

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