Jordan Miles, Teen Violinist: Beat By Police Over Mt. Dew Bottle

[MrScorpio]

PITTSBURGH — The photos taken by Jordan Miles' mother show his face covered with raw, red bruises, his cheek and lip swollen, his right eye swollen shut. A bald spot mars the long black dreadlocks where the 18-year-old violist says police tore them from his head.

Now, 10 days after plainclothes officers stopped him on a street and arrested him after a struggle that they say revealed a soda bottle under his coat, not the gun they suspected, his right eye is still slightly swollen and bloodshot. His head is shaved. The three white officers who arrested him have been reassigned. And his mother says she is considering a lawsuit.

"I feel that my son was racially profiled," Terez Miles said. "It's a rough neighborhood; it was after dark. ... They assumed he was up to no good because he's black. My son, he knows nothing about the streets at all. He's had a very sheltered life, he's very quiet, he doesn't know police officers sit in cars and stalk people like that."

A judge continued the case until Feb. 18 after the officers failed to appear at a hearing Thursday, Miles' attorney, Kerrington Lewis, said.

The police department is saying little as it investigates and isn't releasing the officers' names. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said that the city is investigating whether the officers' actions were justified and that if they weren't, "they will be held accountable for those actions."

"The incident was very troubling to me, and we're taking it very seriously," Ravenstahl told reporters. "It seems as if there was a tremendous amount of force used."

Miles' family describes him as a studious teenager who plays the viola for a jazz band and the orchestra at Pittsburgh's prestigious Creative and Performing Arts High School.

The confrontation began around 11 p.m. Jan. 12, when the teenager walked out of his mother's home and headed to his grandmother's, where he spends most nights. His mother complimented him on the new jacket he had gotten for his birthday.

"It looks handsome," she said, smiling as he walked down the front steps.

As Miles walked up the block, he noticed three men sitting in a white car, "but I thought nothing of it," he said.

The criminal complaint says Miles was standing against a building "as if he was trying to avoid being seen." But he says he was walking when the men jumped out of the car.

The rest:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/24/jordan-miles-teen-violini_n_434772.html

[uponit7771]

1. True diversity in law enforcment is still lacking, there are no mariad of black officers patrolling

...predominantly white neighborhoods.

[asdjrocky]

2. Stuff like this happens EVERY SINGLE DAY in my neighborhood.

"A judge continued the case until Feb. 18 after the officers failed to appear at a hearing Thursday, Miles' attorney, Kerrington Lewis, said." -What crap. What happens to us when we don't show up?

[Heywood J]

19. Bench-warrant their asses

Treat them as fleeing suspects and order them held until this is settled.

[dysfunctional press]

36. if you miss a traffic court date due to a migraine, it costs you $40.

i was involved in a car accident last month- a woman made an illegal left turn in front of me and i slid into her while trying to stop on wet pavement...she was ticketed for the illegal turn, and i was ticketed for 'operating an uninsured vehicle', because i hadn't put my new insurance card in my glovebox- the old one had expired one month previous. i've had insurance continually for over 20 years with the same agent/company- but the cards are sent out 4 times a year, and occasionally they slip through, and it's nothing i think about regularly(the payments are auto-debited from our bank account). the cop said that if you have an expired card, they have to treat it like you have no insurance. i was given a ticket with a 'must appear' court date.
on the day of court, i woke with a massive migraine, and couldn't make it in. i went to the county clerk's office the next day, and was informed i had been found guilty, and that i would have to file a motion to vacate($40) and get a new court date.

it seems to me that there should be some other way to give 'proof of insurance' in such an instance than a single 'must appear' court date...why shouldn't i have been able to produce the proof at the county clerk's office any time in the month between the date of the accident and the original court date? :shrug:

anyway- my 'new' court date is tomorrow. i hope i'm feeling better.

[asdjrocky]

3. And oh yeah-

99% of the cops give the rest a bad name.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. "The police department ... isn't releasing the officers' names"

No other class of suspected lawbreakers get this kind of coddling -- why should rogue cops?

Full Disclosure: no fewer than 4 of my close relatives, on both sides, are, or have been, police officers. One was Frank Rizzo's partner for several years (and spent as much time keeping Frank's temper in check as filling the drunk tank). Another one had been a hostage in a prison riot. So I normally regard claims of police brutality with more suspicion than many other people on the left may.

But substantiated abuse by bad-apple cops? http://www.philly.com/inquirer/online_extras/From_Rizzo_advice_for_Italys_police.html">Spacco il capo!

--d!

[malaise]

6. Scumbags protecting scumbags

and being paid by citizens. This planet is truly fugged up.

[Junkdrawer]

5. He ran from plain clothes cops in an undercover car. Who wouldn't ...

in a "rough neighborhood"? Now, after being beat to shit, he's awaiting trial for "resisting arrest".

My son goes to school with this kid. Everyone at the school is pissed.

[uponit7771]

14. Yeap, I face the same thing when I was 18...UC's who said they were police with plain close

...running after us and we didn't stop till the showed us their badges. They still hauled us away thought...

[midnight]

7. Walking to his grandmother's house the police beat him up? I suppose that neighborhood feels safe..

[uponit7771]

15. good point!

[gordianot]

8. This young man wants to study crime scene investigation.

The Pittsburg Police Department should pay for his education, a hard way to get an education but it would start to atone for a great injustice to Jordan Miles.

[coyote]

9. "But Miles says he didn't have anything in his pocket and rarely drinks Mountain Dew."

You mean to tell me the cops might be lying? Shocked I tell ya...shocked!!!

[Junkdrawer]

10. Kick

[Junkdrawer]

37. Evening Kick

:kick:

[PA Democrat]

11. I guess the Pittsburgh police didn't learn a lesson after the brutal

murder by police of Jonny Gammage who was stopped for the "crime" of driving while black.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pshell/gammage/fact-sheet.html

[Tuvok Obama]

12. I suspect this started out as a straight-up mugging by crooked cops

Even thought it was clearly racial profiling, I don't think it was the usual kind. Normally, cops who use racial profiling, as wrong as that is, are at least looking for criminals.

"Where's the money?" one shouted, according to Miles. "Where's the gun? Where's the drugs?" the other two said. "It was intimidating; I thought I was going to be robbed," Miles said.

That's when he says he took off back to his mother's house but slipped on the icy sidewalk. Before he could pull himself up, Miles said, the men were at his back.

"That's when they started beating me, punching, kicking me, choking me," he said.

Not until 15 minutes later, when uniformed officers drove up in a van and Miles overheard their conversation, did he realize he had been arrested, he said. Initially, when the handcuffs were clamped around his wrists, he thought he was being abducted, he said.

In this case, it looks like these cops just wanted to score. Miles was going to jail either way, for doing nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time (i.e., in a place where criminals with badges were looking for easy prey); but I think their prime motivation was to line their pockets with money and drugs.

[Junkdrawer]

16. Supposedly, it started as a case of mistaken identity....

As to whether the cops were trying to:

1.) Legitimately arrest a drug dealer

-- or --

2.) Were trying to shake down said drug dealer

I can't say. However, the mayor's statements focus on "excessive force", so I'm guessing that, even in case #1, the mayor is asking why such excessive force was used.

Also, if it is a case of mistaken identity, why is the city still trying to press charges on Mr. Miles? In the end, this is only going to dig them in deeper.

[blueamy66]

13. And US citizens wonder

why many of us do not like cops.

[TexasObserver]

17. Racist thugs infest law enforcement in America.

It's so common, it's fair to say virtually every police department in America is beset with problems which arise from racism. It's more common than the absence of racism in such departments.

This is the story of a bunch of guys who do whatever the hell they feel like, all in the name of the War on Drugs. They routinely grab and beat up young black men, but they usually don't get negative media about it.

The person most likely to deprive you of your constitutional rights will always be someone with a badge and a uniform who has sworn to protect the constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, but will instead be that enemy of the constitution.

[Jim__]

18. WTF is the criminal complaint against him?

The criminal complaint says Miles was standing against a building "as if he was trying to avoid being seen."

"as if". Is it now against the law to appear to be trying to not be seen?

[PA Democrat]

28. They charged him with aggravated assault and resisting arrest

There was a hearing scheduled last week, but none of the cops showed up and it was postponed. I guess they need more time to get their stories straight. The article linked below states they are also saying that they suspected Mr. Miles was "on drugs." What a load of crap In the meantime, the cops have not been suspended but reassigned from undercover to uniformed duty.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10022/1030324-100.stm

[Jim__]

30. Thanks - n/t

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

20. I hope the truth comes out and justice is done.

I don't think someone who plays the viola is called a violinist. I could be wrong about that though.

[JVS]

21. Why couldn't these three have been the ones that the RW gun nut took out last year?

It's a damned shame.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

50. So they deserve the death penalty for this?

[JoeyT]

54. Of course not.

They deserve 20 years in general population and being sued for everything they'll ever own.
You know, what would happen to the rest of us if we kicked the shit out of and kidnapped a random person.

Whatever happened to holding the people that are supposed to enforce the law more accountable than the ones that are merely supposed to obey it?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

56. Thanks for your opinion but I asked JVS.

[MilesColtrane]

22. I hope he becomes a very rich young man.

And, that three former officers learn how much cops are appreciated on the inside.

[Quantess]

29. And most importantly I would hope that the police dept and the city gets tired of lawsuits

and actually does something to change their ways. If lawsuits are what it takes, so be it.

[krabigirl]

23. f the police. the bigget gang there is.

[rcrush]

40. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9k8L3oDa4

[MrScorpio]

51. This one right here is the kicker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAB9uDmba48

[rcrush]

53. No shortage of those videos on youtube...

[tXr]

42. +100,000,000,000,000!

f 'em!

[Flaneur]

24. Exhibit #537,328 for why there are so many "cop haters" in America.

This shit goes on every day across this country.

There is a culture of impunity and immunity for law enforcement.

There is no accountabillity.

Our policing culture is seriously fucked up.

[Flaneur]

25. The good burghers of Pittsburgh will pay out big bucks for this.

Maybe then they'll think about fixing their police department.

[Odin2005]

26. More racism from the pigs.

[Shell Beau]

39. Except not all are pigs.

These in this situation certainly are assholes and should be fired and arrested.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

27. How awful.

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Violist, not violinist

Viola players are much rarer than violinists. I hope this kid doesn't suffer any hearing or nerve damage.

I really, truly, hate it when cops play CYA rather than act like grownups and admit that they screwed up.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

33. I hope they didn't mess up his arms or hands.

I've known fiddlers that took up the viola to get gigs. You are right, there are a lot fewer of them than fiddlers.

I played violin. I could never learn viola because my brain did not compute on alto clef.
That middle line has to be either a D or a B, in bass and treble clef.

Also I think violas are a lot heavier and harder to play. But then you have to match the size of the person to the size of the instrument.

[Gormy Cuss]

34. Violas are notoriously hard to keep in tune.

They are heavier with heavier bows, yet still are to be balanced on one's shoulder. Come to think of it, most of the violists that I've known tend to be tall or broad shouldered. I played violin too, but if I had been handed a viola I think that I would have liked playing it more than the violin because of the distinct timbre.

BTW, I know what you mean about the alto clef. ;)

[MilesColtrane]

49. Just try one these bad boys.

Playing a double bass in tune is maddeningly difficult, even when you practice religiously.

We also have to deal with alto clef, in addition to bass clef and sometimes treble clef.

This can frequently lead to the dreaded "what the hell note is that" phenomenon.

[Igel]

38. Violas aren't *that* much heavier.

Just a bit.

They're harder to play because the notes are farther apart. That little finger really has to stretch--and to extend up into second position? Ow. It also means vibrato has to be wider to be the same.

And the higher positions can be a bit of a stretch.

It's also harder to play because the strings are more massive. Harder to get them vibrating.

And then there are the infamous wolf tones. I have to nurse one F# on my viola.

That said, you can always get a smaller viola. Violins are 14". My viola's 16 1/2"; it generally sounds really cello-y, so I love it, but my hands aren't exactly large. A lot are 16" and there are 15" and 15 1/2" violas around. I don't think I've seen any larger than 17".

Alto clef is something just you have to get used to. It's like learning Cyrillic when learning Russian or Bulgarian. The only way it becomes instinctive is through practice and repetition.

I started on viola and moved up a fifth to violin.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

46. I've always wondered about wolf tones.

Heard about them from people who played bigger fiddles, something about the resonance not working right when you scale up the design of a violin.

I couldn't learn guitar, either, because I can't think in fourths. I can think in fifths and think in piano. my sweetie got me a fender jazz bass tuned like a cello, and I can read bass clef, so I do OK when working on that. However, it's incredibly heavy and I am a small person with small bones and long fingers.

I started taking fiddle lessons at ten years of age. I remember that my arm wasn't quite long enough to get to the end of the bow. My right arm would be out straight and there would be four inches of bow left. So even at that age I wasn't quite big enough for a 14" fiddle.

[Bluebear]

44. That blasted alto clef was no reason to do him harm.

Kidding, kidding.

Thinking all good thoughts for this young man.

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. Awful. I hope he gets a good lawyer

[Junkdrawer]

35. My son just informed me there's a walkout at his school planned over this...

People are pissed.

[tXr]

43. Good!

This shit has gone on far, far too long in this country.

It's long past time to deal with these thugs with badges who can legally assault and kill you under cover of law, then charge you with interference with an 'officer'.

[Junkdrawer]

55. UPDATE: Local News reports that his classmates....

are going to hold a press conference in front of the City County Building at 10 AM and that school administrators are being asked to get them in front of city council.

[rcrush]

41. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9k8L3oDa4

[JVS]

45. That is just so dreadful a picture. Shame on those cops.

[Shell Beau]

47. Absolutely.

It is hard to look at that picture.

[Sultana]

48. Post-racial America

:sarcasm:

Get well soon, Jordan. I hope him and his family sue the city and police dept. dry.

[Kalun D]

52. Welcome

to the police state.

[Junkdrawer]

57. 'Justice For Jordan:' Students March Downtown After Classmate's Police Beating

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4243301

[lightningandsnow]

58. WTF?

:cry:

And people wonder why a lot of people don't feel safe around police.