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Settle it: The Jordan Miles case was painful all around

Settle it: The Jordan Miles case was painful all around

Joel Sansone, the attorney for Jordan Miles, is right. It is time for Mr. Miles to settle his federal civil-rights lawsuit against Pittsburgh police officers and move on with his life.

Mr. Miles is 24 now. He is a manager at a retail store and, despite his ordeal, still living in Pittsburgh. He was an 18-year-old high school honors student in January 2010, when he and three plainclothes city police officers had a bloody encounter late at night in Homewood. The officers said Mr. Miles, who is black, had what they thought was a gun in his coat and resisted when confronted. Mr. Miles said the white officers — David Sisak, Richard Ewing and Michael Saldutte — never identified themselves and attacked him without provocation. No gun was found on Mr. Miles, whose injuries prompted an outcry and significantly damaged the police bureau’s relations with minority residents.

Years of legal wrangling followed. Assault and resisting arrest charges against Mr. Miles were dismissed. The officers faced no charges, though Mr. Miles and his supporters claimed the officers violated his civil rights. Mr. Miles filed a lawsuit against the city, its top officials and the officers, and the parties reached a partial settlement, for $75,000, in 2012. A trial later that year on the remaining allegations resulted in the jury clearing the officers of malicious prosecution but deadlocking on other issues. A 2014 trial led to a mixed verdict with $119,000 in damages. He appealed — turning down that sum, in effect — and the parties have tentatively agreed to $125,000. Legislation approving the deal is before city council.

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There is no compensating Mr. Miles for the beating he received at the hands of overzealous officers. However, as Mr. Sansone said, Mr. Miles’ life should not be defined by this incident. 

While never admitting wrongdoing, the city has learned from the incident. In 2011, Councilman Ricky Burgess, who represents Homewood, pushed through legislation expanding the information required in the police bureau’s annual public report. The report now must provide information about the numbers of officers sued, disciplined and arrested each year. It must give the number of strip searches and body cavity searches performed, along with details. It must provide a demographic breakdown of traffic stops in each zone and give details about police chases.

Since 2012, civil-rights experts from the U.S. Justice Department have conducted two training sessions for police supervisors and two others for police recruits. Police Chief Cameron McLay, hired in 2014, has demonstrated a sensitivity to police-community relations. The bureau has stepped up efforts to recruit more officers of color, settling a federal lawsuit over hiring practices. Last year, Pittsburgh was one of a handful of cities selected for a Justice Department initiative on improving police-community ties.

Problems remain. But it is time for the city to settle the Miles lawsuit and move on, too, while taking to heart something Mayor Bill Peduto said two years ago about Mr. Miles’ run-in with the officers. “It has changed at least four lives forever, but it hurt us all in some way.”

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Meet the Editorial Board.

First Published: May 29, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

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