A City Divided: Race, Fear and the Law in Police Confrontations

David A. Harris

Description

The story of Jordan Miles vs Pittsburgh Police

A City Divided tells the story of the case involving 18-year-old Jordan Miles and three Pittsburgh police officers. David Harris, a resident of Pittsburgh and the Sally Ann Semenko Chair at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, describes what happened, explaining how a case that began with a young black man walking around the block in his own neighborhood turned Pittsburgh inside out, resulted in two investigations of the police officers and two federal trials. Harris, who has written, published and conducted research at the intersection of race, criminal justice and the law for almost thirty years, explains not just what happened but why, what the stakes are and, most importantly, what we must do differently to avoid these public safety catastrophes.

1. The Incident; Part I: What Happened?; 2. The People and the Places; 3. The Immediate Aftermath; 4. Investigations and Decisions; 5. The Remaining Arena: Civil Litigation; Part II: Why Did This Happen?; 6. The Poison of Race; 7. How Fear Impacts the Police; 8. How Fear Impacts Black Americans; 9. If He Didn’t Do Anything, Then Why Did He Run?; Part III: Was Justice Served?; 10. The First Trial: Jordan’s Case; 11. The First Trial: The Police Case; 12. The Second Trial; Part IV: What’s Next?; 13. What Can We Do?; Epilogue; Glossary; Index.

Sujets

• Droit et juridique
• Criminal procedure
• Social sciences
• Criminology
• LAW

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 10 janvier 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785271151
• Langue: English

Extrait

A CITY DIVIDED
A CITY DIVIDED
RACE, FEAR, AND THE LAW IN POLICE CONFRONTATIONS
DAVID A. HARRIS
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2020
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Copyright © David A. Harris 2020

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.

ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-113-7 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78527-113-X (Hbk)

This title is also available as an e-book.
To
Ruben Harris
of blessed memory
and
Levi Ruben Blythe Harris
Beginning a life filled with joy and love
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 The Incident
Part I What Happened?
Chapter 2 The People and the Places
Chapter 3 The Immediate Aftermath
Chapter 4 Investigations and Decisions
Chapter 5 The Remaining Arena: Civil Litigation
Part II Why Did This Happen?
Chapter 6 The Poison of Race
Chapter 7 How Fear Impacts the Police
Chapter 8 How Fear Impacts Black Americans
Chapter 9 If He Didn’t Do Anything, Then Why Did He Run?
Part III Was Justice Served?
Chapter 10 The First Trial: Jordan’s Case
Chapter 11 The First Trial: The Police Case
Chapter 12 The Second Trial
Part IV What’s Next?
Chapter 13 What Can We Do?
Epilogue
Notes
Glossary
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Anyone who thinks that writing a book is a one-person task—the scholar toiling in a lonely garret, turning out a finished product for others to read—is sadly mistaken. While it is the author who conceives of the ideas and puts fingers to keyboard or pen to paper, any book that makes it to a reader owes its existence to an entire cast of people.
For those who encouraged me to write this book and who helped me get back on track when the effort seemed derailed, I cannot thank them enough. Among those who played these key roles for me were Sam Walker, Kathleen Clark, Richard Leo, Jeff Shook, Ralph Bangs, Eric Miller, Rachel Harmon, Seth Stoughton, Barry Friedman, John Wallace, Richard Garland, and especially Tamara Lave. I also thank Kerry Lewis and Bryan Campbell, who supplied me with much of the basic information and documents I needed to get the job done.
The brilliant and encouraging editorial assistance of Kate Scheinman was absolutely key to the quality of the finished product. Law librarians Linda Tashbook and Karen Shepard, Research Fellow Joey Maguire, and the entire library staff of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law all have my gratitude as well.
For the many people who talked to me about the case, granted interviews, and gave me background, I am deeply appreciative. Some of you were directly involved in some of the events; others had a particular professional take on what occurred. Some were current or former officials or officers; others were advocates, either part of the case or outside it. Some of your comments and thoughts appear in the book; for others, your discussions with me are not quoted but nonetheless helped guide me in important ways. I am especially grateful to Jordan Miles and to the members of his family, whose help and cooperation were a key element in allowing this project to come to fruition.
Throughout the years that I worked on this project, I had the support of the Dean’s Scholarship funding from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. I was also gratified to have been awarded the Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Faculty Scholar Award for support of this project. My appointment as the Sally Ann Semenko Endowed Chair also supported my efforts. Former Pitt Law Deans Mary Crossley and Chip Carter and current Dean Amy Wildermuth did all that I asked to facilitate and support this work. I cannot thank them enough.
Last, I cannot adequately express my thanks to my family, friends, and colleagues who helped me through some of the most difficult times in my life as I worked on this project over almost eight years. Your encouragement and support meant everything to me. This book would never have come to be without all of you.
CHAPTER 1
THE INCIDENT
MICHAEL SALDUTTE, RICHARD EWING, AND DAVID SISAK
They had all applied for the assignment: plainclothes anti-crime patrol in one of the city’s most dangerous and violent neighborhoods. That’s what put Pittsburgh Police officers Michael Saldutte, Richard Ewing, and David Sisak together in an unmarked “99” car on the night of January 12, 2010, rolling slowly through the city’s Homewood neighborhood.
Year in and year out, Homewood—a residential enclave of mostly poor residents in the city’s East End—had the most homicides of any neighborhood in Pittsburgh, and it usually led in other violent crimes, like aggravated assault and robbery. All three men had significant experience as active officers; for example, David Sisak had made about 1,000 arrests over the prior four years. These kinds of records—actions showing a “go get the bad guys” attitude—undoubtedly helped the officers get the coveted assignment to a 99 car: an unmarked anti-crime vehicle that roamed the vicinity at will, looking for signs of trouble—especially crime involving guns and violence—instead of waiting to answer calls like a regular patrol car. Each of the officers stood about six feet tall and weighed around 200 pounds.
Richard Ewing, a former Marine who had earned a brown belt in martial arts, drove the dark-colored, two-door 99 car; Michael Saldutte, sitting in the front passenger seat, had trained in martial arts and what he called “grappling.” David Sisak rode in the back seat, operating the police computer. All three had taken defensive tactics training as police recruits. Saldutte served as an instructor in defensive tactics for the whole police department, and he had had special training in spotting people carrying concealed weapons. The clear winter night had brought frigid temperatures, and a thick coating of snow and ice already covered streets and sidewalks. The officers all wore dark, plain clothes in layers against the bitter cold and heavy boots. Their police badges hung on cords around their necks.
A few minutes after 11:00 p.m., the 99 car drove down residential Tioga Street. Ewing drove slowly, only about 15 miles per hour, to allow the officers to look for anything unusual. As they passed a small white house at 7940 Tioga, Saldutte saw something: a male figure “standing up tight against [the corner of a] house”; the man faced away from the street. Saldutte told his partners that he saw someone, and he asked Ewing to turn the car around to get a better look. Ewing continued a short way down Tioga (he did not want the person near the house to notice them), turned around, and then pulled the 99 car even with the white house. As they came to a stop, with the white house on the driver’s side of the car, the officers saw that while they had been turning around and coming back, the man had begun to walk away from the house, toward the sidewalk, and was walking toward the street. The man “seemed not to have noticed” the 99 car until it stopped in the street in front of him. When he saw the unmarked car, the man—young, small in stature, and wearing a heavy coat against the cold—stopped dead in his tracks and thrust his right hand into his coat pocket.
Officer Ewing immediately opened the driver’s door window all the way, held up the badge hanging around his neck for the man to see, and identified himself with the words “Pittsburgh Police.” Officer Saldutte, on the passenger side, opened his door, got halfway out—one leg on the street, the other still inside—and leaned over the car. Showing the badge around his neck and identifying himself as a Pittsburgh Police officer, Saldutte said to the man, “Hold up—do me a favor and take your hand out of your pocket.” All of the officers understood that, in an encounter with an unknown person, officers needed to get the person to make his or her hands visible. Requiring a display of empty hands meant the subject could not harm them with a weapon. The man immediately obeyed: he pulled his hand out of his pocket.
Even so, the officers became suspicious: they already suspected that the man had a gun. According to Saldutte, “I felt at this point he could be carrying a weapon.” Sisak concurred, “We thought he had a gun from the get-go.” The man had behaved suspiciously by standing next to a house at night and then putting his hand in his pocket when he saw the police. Saldutte, still leaning over the car, asked the man, “Is that your house?” The man replied, “No, I live down the street,” pointing down Tioga. Saldutte then asked the man why he was “creeping” around the white house if he did not l