Following a public outcry over two violent encounters between police officers and citizens late last month, advocates said they met with Pittsburgh officials who agreed to raise more awareness of police use of force.
Daylon A. Davis, president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the NAACP, and Tim Stevens, leader of the Black Political Empowerment Project, said they sat down Thursday for a private meeting with city officials including Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt, acting police Chief Christopher Ragland, Beth Pittinger, executive director of Pittsburgh's Citizen Police Review Board, and others.
Public Safety spokesperson Cara Cruz — who was outside the City-County Building, where Mr. Davis, Mr. Stevens, and Lauren Lynch-Novakovic, civic engagement coordinator for the Alliance for Police Accountability, held a news conference Thursday — said she was not at the meeting and could not provide further details about what was discussed.
Ms. Pittinger called the meeting “cordial” and said officials agreed to compile information about police use of force and disperse them to public safety councils in each zone. The group also hopes to bring this initiative to schools across the city, she said.
Mr. Davis and Mr. Stevens said public safety officials declined to comment on specifics about the incidents, which remain under investigation by the Office of Municipal Investigation.
But they said the group agreed to meet again after both investigations had concluded. Mr. Davis and Mr. Stevens said officials also committed to hosting public forums discussing police use of force and increasing their efforts to educate the public on citizens' rights during police encounters.
"We're never totally pleased in any meeting of this sort because there's information that we wanted that they could not give because of procedural matters….so that's a concern, but it is what it is," Mr. Stevens said Thursday afternoon.
Mr. Davis said these educational forums will also help the public discern between city ordinances that can be changed locally, and police force laws that must be addressed on a state level.
"There is a difference between what the city of Pittsburgh can do and what the state of Pennsylvania has mandated," Mr. Davis said. "It's going to require them to make some changes at the state level in order for us here locally to stop seeing some of these videos [of police force]."
Mr. Stevens and Mr. Davis also called on the district attorney's office to expedite the release of any body-worn camera footage from either incident once the investigations are concluded.
In two letters, dated Jan. 3 and Jan. 9, addressed to Mayor Ed Gainey, Chief Ragland, Mr. Schmidt and Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., Mr. Stevens and Mr. Davis called on officials to reveal what led up to two incidents — one involving a woman identified as Morgan Daniels and another from two days earlier involving a man identified as Delvon Pridgen — and why such a level of force was used.
Bystanders captured video of both incidents, and those videos were provided by Mr. Stevens and Mr. Davis.
"There's different tiers [of force] that would trigger the action and response. We want to be very specific about those different tiers and explain it to the public," Mr. Davis said Thursday.
Ms. Cruz said earlier this week that police leadership reviewed both use-of-force incidents in the immediate aftermath. The citizen-initiated complaints, she said, are both under investigation by the Office of Municipal Investigations.
"Public Safety, both the Bureau of Police and the director, are now awaiting the findings to see whether the complaints are sustained," she said.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Pridgen, police responded to Perrysville Avenue near Federal Street about 1:30 a.m. earlier this month for a report of "a hit-and-run involving a husband and wife involving a [protection from abuse order]."
Police said Pridgen's wife called police and alleged her husband followed her from the Strip District to the North Side, hit her car, and was then picked up by someone driving a gray Cadillac. Officers caught up with Pridgen on East Ohio Street, and the driver eventually pulled over on Cedar Avenue.
According to the complaint, Pridgen "immediately got out of the vehicle, defying verbal commands to stay inside," and "it was apparent he was extremely intoxicated." Police said he tensed up when they tried to take him into custody, and officers "took Delvon to the ground, giving him multiple verbal commands."
Footage of Pridgen's arrest appears to show three officers struggling to restrain him on the ground while a fourth looms over him with a stun gun. One of the officers on the ground appeared to strike or punch Pridgen near his head several times.
"The video footage of this incident presents an interaction that appears to be significantly more excessive and aggressive than necessary, and possibly violating significant police procedures," Mr. Stevens and Mr. Davis wrote in the joint letter.
Pridgen was taken to Allegheny General Hospital and later charged with obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest and public drunkenness. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 4. Court records did not list an attorney as of Wednesday.
In the Dec. 31 incident involving Ms. Daniels, police said they responded to a call for a fight on Edgar Street in Carrick.
Family members of the two women involved in the fight told police when they arrived that things had calmed down, according to the complaint, and offered no resistance when the officers asked to go check on everyone inside the home.
Eventually, Ms. Daniels "came outside and was yelling at us," officers wrote in the complaint. "[She] was very irate and walked up to me very fast and screaming in my face," an officer wrote. "I pushed her back for my safety."
The officer, identified in the complaint as Michael Janczewski, alleged Ms. Daniels resisted arrest. As they struggled, the officer wrote, he and Ms. Daniels both fell down the stairs of the porch.
Once on the ground, Ms. Daniels "was kicking her legs and refusing to comply," according to the complaint, and Officer Janczewski wrote that he "punched her in the side of the head one time with a closed fist." He said his radio and body-worn camera flew off during the struggle.
Police alleged that Ms. Daniels' two daughters also scuffled with police. They were also taken into custody.
Ms. Daniels was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. She was released from jail on $5,000 bond the day after her arrest. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25. Court records did not list an attorney as of Wednesday.
In video footage of that incident, it is unclear what caused Ms. Daniels to fall down the porch stairs, as the view is blocked by railings.
"We have reviewed video footage of her arrest provided to us; it appears that an officer pushed and fell on her, forcing her to fall down her front steps, and violently handcuffed her," Mr. Stevens and Mr. Davis wrote. "A female police officer appears to be seen forcibly dragging another member of the household down the steps and pulling them over the cement edge of the wall of the steps."
First Published: January 30, 2025, 10:51 p.m.
Updated: January 31, 2025, 7:36 p.m.