Witchy Woman

"An arrest in which several punches were thrown has triggered an accusation of brutality against Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, police from the mother of the 18-year-old honor student who was taken into custody.

Police, in a criminal complaint on the incident, say "closed fist strikes" were used by the undercover police officers, but only to subdue the teenager as he tried to get away.

His mother said she plans to file a civil rights claim against the officers.

Terez Miles said her son, Jordan Miles, who is black, thought his life was in jeopardy when three white men jumped out of a car on the night of January 11 as he walked not far from his home.

"My son tried to run thinking his life was in jeopardy," Terez Miles said. "He made three steps before he slipped and fell." After that, she said, the police used a stun gun and beat him, pulling out a chunk of his hair.

The criminal complaint says the officers, considering Jordan Miles' appearance suspicious, got out of the car and identified themselves as police. He tried to flee, fell, and then struggled to escape.

The officers "delivered 2-3 closed fist strikes to Miles' head/face with still no effect," and then a "knee strike to Miles' head causing him to momentarily stop resisting," so that he could be handcuffed, the document says.

Miles' mother said the officers did not identify themselves as police to her son, a viola player and student at the city's Creative and Performing Arts High School.

The complaint says the police officers believed Miles was engaged in criminal activity and possibly armed with a "large heavy object." The object turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew.

Miles was charged with aggravated assault, loitering, resisting arrest and escape."

I, too, would be afraid for my life if three white people jumped out of a car and ran after me, and I am white! He was walking from home to his grandmother's, he could have been coming home or simply taking a walk. How the hell is that loitering? Considering that the kid is not that big, I highly doubt that he was thinking "I could take these guys." So why is he the one being charged with aggravated assault after he took three steps and fell?

What is even more ridiculous is that they felt it was necessary to beat him after Tasering him. In college, I had a roommate who was studying criminology and had essentially an apprenticeship with the local police force and academy. Before you could carry a stun gun, you first had to be hit with it in order to know what it feels like so you wouldn't go around hitting people with it willy nilly. (Or at least that was the requirement here). Trust me when I say that immediately after being Tasered, even at a low setting, you aren't capable of doing much unless you are on PCP, speed, or some other insane drug. So why did the officers feel that it was then necessary to beat him when he was already pretty much as subdued as he was going to get.

Even if the officers did announce themselves as such, it would have still been hard to believe them since they were plainclothes and (I am assuming here) in an unmarked car. As if their actions weren't already questionable enough, they did not even show for the hearing.