National NAACP Wants DA To Bring Charges In Jordan Miles Case

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Local state and national leaders from the NAACP and other community groups are asking Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala to bring charges against the three Pittsburgh police officers accused of beating Jordan Miles.

"We believe there should be a jury trial, there should be a jury of peers that evaluates all of this evidence and decides whether there's been a crime," Kim Keenan, National NAACP Counsel, said.

In January of 2010, Miles suffered severe injuries from an encounter with Pittsburgh police officers Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak. The officers claimed Miles refused to cooperate during a drug investigation, but charges were dropped against Miles, a former high school honors student.

Keenan, the general counsel for the NAACP, says the nation is watching this case.

"Here's a young man who steps from his home and he is beaten to a pulp essentially," Keenan said. "No one has a weapon that he had, no one has a crime that he was committing, he wasn't on drugs."

There's been several community protests calling for legal action against the officers. Recently, the U.S. Justice Department ended its investigation without bringing charges.

NAACP State President Jerome Mondesire says a lawsuit against the Pittsburgh police department is not out of the question.

"We had a case in Philadelphia, recently we've had cases in Harrisburg, so it's not something that we haven't crossed in the past," he said. "Whether we bring legal action here in this case, we haven't decided yet, but it's on the table."

KDKA's Bob Allen reports the DA is still considering the Jordan Miles case. He has three people working on the information and all the evidence, but he is not ready to make a decision if any action should be taken against the three officers.

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