Miles' Family, Friends Take Stand In Civil Suit Trial

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The first full day of testimony is finished in the civil trial of the three Pittsburgh police officers accused in the beating of a former CAPA student in 2010.

Jordan Miles, now 20, claims he was stopped by police and beaten without cause in January of 2010. But the officers say they thought he was armed and tried to run.

Patricia Porter, Miles' grandmother and a retired teacher, took the stand this morning.

While on the stand, she detailed what it was like when she and her daughter first saw Miles after worrying all night that he hadn't shown up to sleep at her house as he often did.

She said as the hours dragged on after 11 p.m., she and Miles' mother became increasingly concerned.

When he didn't show up at CAPA High School the next day, she testified that she called police and learned he had been arrested.

She said the family headed downtown hoping to see him at an arraignment. It was evening on the next day before she got a call from Miles who said: "Nana, I've gotten arrested and I don't know why."

When they arrived at the jail, waiting for his release, Porter testified:

"Somebody told us 'I just want to warn you, he must have gotten into a scrap.' As he exited the jail, the next thing I heard was my daughter screaming, 'Oh my God, look what they did to my son.' I didn't look at him then. By her reaction, I knew I wouldn't be able to drive them to the hospital. But once we got there, I got a good look at his face - quite a few of his hair locks were missing. He looked like someone who had been terribly abused."

Before testimony began this morning, the last of the defense attorneys gave his opening statements, saying anything that happened to Miles happened because he tried to run from police.

"I believe that the majority of our police are doing what they're supposed to do," Chase Patterson, who came to watch testimony, said. "And I think it's important that when they're questions that the system hold them accountable and I wanted to be sure today as a concerned citizen and as a member of this community that our justice system is doing its best to hold officers accountable."

One of Jordan Miles' friends who was on the phone with him when he left his mother's house, testified that last thing she heard on the phone was him yelling, "Stop! Chill!"

Then she heard scratching sounds and then the phone went dead.

RELATED LINKS:
Jury Selected, Jordan Miles Civil Suit Begins (7/17/12)
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