“WE DON’T EXPECT OUR POLICE TO SHOOT UNARMED SUSPECTS.”
INCOMING Drag story one-sided, distraction from real issues I was surprised by the article “Dragged Down” [March 13], and how biased I felt it was without looking at all knowledge that was out there. Your viewpoint on this particular piece seems to be one-sided and filled with inaccuracies and other unfounded information. You are supposed to check your sources, so I would hope you would do so in the future. What needs to be looked at is how we represent all the population to be fair. I would hope that you would take into consideration Pennsylvania HB 177, the Hate Crimes Bill, because that’s addressing the aspect of hate itself. I’m not just speaking about hate toward gay people, although certainly the bill will deal with that. We must not tolerate hate in our communities. I would believe that the newspaper would support that effort, and would support discouraging hate in our community. I think that since the newspaper itself is a vehicle of free speech, it would support other avenues of free speech like Pittsburgh Community Television, which will be up for funding this June. I would hope you would retract the article that is so factless and instead offer real insight. I would think as a responsible paper you would contact the mayoral candidates and you would ask them what their feelings are on the Hate Crimes Bill so we have a clear idea of where each candidate stands on this issue. How do they feel about gay rights? How do they feel about the city having the financial responsibility to balance its budget? How do they feel about making sure the diversity of this city is reflected in decisions on where funding goes? We need to understand who these candidates truly are and where they truly stand. We don’t need more politics of smoke and mirrors. What we need is truth. What we need is understanding. — John A. DeBartola President, Keystone Alliance/ Gaylife Newsletter
Bottle-nose dolphin bisque and panda-kabobs served with condor foie gras. Also “red wine,” your choice of A, AB, B or O. — March 22 tweet from “Fake Jeffrey Romoff” (@JeffRomoffUPMC) after a legal filing claims that the real UPMC head has a private chef, among other perks
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These nine still photos were taken from the police-cruiser dashboard camera the night officers stopped 19-year-old Leon Ford. The routine traffic stop resulted in Ford being shot four times in the chest by city officers.
POLICEDRAMA A
T FIRST, there was nothing unusual about the traffic stop that began at about 9:30 p.m. on the night of Nov. 11. Two Pittsburgh Police officers, trailing a 2006 silver Infiniti G35x they later reported was “driving too fast,” saw the driver fail to come to a complete stop at a Highland Park intersection. As a dashboard camera recorded, they flashed their lights, prompting the driver to use his right-turn signal and pull over almost immediately, near the corner of Stanton Avenue and Farragut Street. The driver, 19-year-old Leon Ford Jr., was alone. He handed over his license, ve-
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 03.27/04.03.2013
hicle registration and proof of insurance. There are a lot of mysteries about what happened next:
Video captured the night police shot and paralyzed an unarmed motorist leads to more questions, not answers {BY AMYJO BROWN} Why did the officers doubt Ford’s identity when Ford’s paperwork was in order, stretching the stop out to nearly twice the amount of time of an average
traffic stop in Pittsburgh? Why did none of the three city officers involved in the stop have a working microphone on his uniform, which would have allowed their conversations with Ford to be recorded? Why did one of the officers jump inside the car — despite a strongly worded policy to the contrary? And what would cause Ford to suddenly put the car in gear, driving away with the officer inside? What will be certain is this: Ford, unarmed, will prove to be exactly who he says he is. The officer who jumped into the car will suffer a dislocated thumb and CONTINUES ON PG. 08