Monday, March 31, 2014
According to our own Rebecca Nuttall, a federal civil jury has ruled that police officers David Sisak, Michael Saldutte and Richard Ewing falsely arrested Jordan Miles in January 2010. However, they ruled the force used to subdue Miles was not excessive.
The jury awarded Miles $119,000 in damages. He previously settled his claims with the City of Pittsburgh for $75,000. We will have further details throughout the day.
Miles was an 18-year-old CAPA High School student on Jan. 12, 2010 when he had an altercation with the three officers - David Sisak, Michael Saldutte and Richard Ewing — in his Homewood neighborhood. He says he was simply walking to his grandmother's home in Homewood when the officers approached him without identifying themselves. Thinking he was going to be robbed, Miles ran; he claims the police chased him down, beat him severely while pulling chunks of hair from his head. The three officers claim they saw Miles skulking around a neighbor’s house at 11 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2010. They stopped him and identified themselves, they say. And they say Miles had a bulge in his jacket, acted like he had a gun and ran. They say he later assaulted Sisak and Saldutte and was the aggressor in the altercation, despite being outweighed by the officers’ combined weight of more than 600 pounds. Charges against him, however, were later dropped.
This is the second go round for Miles in civil court. In August 2012, a jury found in favor of the officers on claims that they maliciously prosecuted Miles. However, the panel deadlocked on claims of false arrest and excessive force.