Online videos taken in February 2018 showed Pittsburgh activist and performer Blak Rapp Madusa being arrested in North Versailles after she defended some children who were being kicked out of North Versailles Stadium 18 Theater.
Madusa, real name Melanie Carter, was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, defiant trespassing and failure to disperse. Officer Christopher Kelly, of the North Versailles Police, was shown in one video to be throwing Carter to the ground during the arrest, while smoking a cigarette.
Today, those charges were dropped by Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Cashman. Before the charges were dropped, advocates had rallied behind Carter saying that she was being unfairly targeted. Carter has been a strong presence in local activism, including Pittsburgh's Black Lives Matter movement.
Mike Manko, spokesperson for Allegheny County District Attorney Steven Zappala, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on March 2018 that the arrest carried out by Kelly "does raise some concerns."
Carter hopes that her case can raise awareness to the injustices Black women often face in the criminal justice system.
“We have to stop this violence against Black women and girls,” said Carter to TribLive. “We have to re-humanize black women and girls. We have to protect black women and girls.”
Resisting arrest charges dropped against Pittsburgh activist Blak Rapp Madusa
Melanie Carter, aka Blak Rapp Madusa, was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, defiant trespassing and failure to disperse in 2018
