Doctor testifies that Miles had bruises, abrasions, concussion from Pittsburgh Police Beating

From [HERE] As the second week of a Homewood man's civil rights trial against three Pittsburgh police officers began, jurors heard a video deposition Monday from the emergency room physician who treated Jordan Miles shortly after his January 2010 arrest. Dr. Joshua Fenton testified that Miles had multiple bruises and abrasions on his head, abdomen and hips. "He did have evidence of a blunt-force injury or trauma," Fenton said.

A medical test didn't find any "acute inner cranial injury," but that doesn't mean that Miles didn't suffer a concussion, Fenton testified. Miles, 20, who is black, claims in a federal lawsuit that officers Michael Saldutte, David Sisak and Richard Ewing -- who are white -- approached him in when he was walking near his house, without cause. Officers chased him and  when they caught up with him they beat him into submission by delivering violent blows that left his face swollen and distorted. Police also used a stun gun and pulled out a chunk of his hair. The officers put him in handcuffs, and repeatedly shoved his face into the snow, causing a piece of wood to impale his gums, He is 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was unarmed. Police falsely arrested and then maliciously prosecuted him on charges that a district judge later dismissed.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper, who was called to the stand by Miles’ attorneys, testified that his men followed the search and seizure policy properly.

Harper also testified that each officer wrote in their resistance report that Miles’ assaultive behavior at the time of his arrest required them deliver knee strikes to subdue him.

The officers' attorneys said Miles had his back turned to them as they drove up in an unmarked car and appeared to be loitering near a house with a bulge in his pocket, which they thought was a gun but turned out to be a soda bottle. They claim they identified themselves as police and only used force because Miles fought them and ran away.

Miles said none of the three white men in dark clothes he saw jump from the vehicle identified themselves as police before one said, "Where's your gun, money and drugs?"

Miles said he was so startled that he dropped his cellphone and yelled, "Chill! Stop!" at the men before turning and running back toward his mother's home, "Because I thought I was going to be robbed."

One of the men dove onto his back and began hitting him in the head, Miles said. After that, he remembers "being hit in my head and my face" while he was on his stomach.

"It felt as if I was being hit everywhere in my body at the same time," Miles said.

Miles couldn't say how long he was beaten, but he told his lawyer J. Kerrington Lewis "It seemed like it was forever."

Miles said he was eventually handcuffed after one of the men put a knee into his back and pulled his arms behind him but said the officers continued to hit him. At that point, Ewing shook his head while listening to the testimony.

It was then, Miles said, he began praying, only to be told to shut up.

Miles testified he had nothing in his coat pocket, which contradicts police claims they found a soda bottle. Police said they threw the bottle away and didn't keep it as evidence, but Miles and Lewis say that was a thinly veiled pretext to justify the officers' actions.

The defense attorneys have suggested Miles' version of events has been coached and expressed incredulity in their opening statements that Miles contends he didn't realize his alleged attackers were police even after he was handcuffed. Still, Miles insisted that was the case.

Testimony is scheduled to continue Monday with experts testifying about the permanent damage Miles suffered as well as police officials discussing police procedure and previous incidents involving the officers.