Investigates

FBI now reviewing violent arrest outside PPG Paints Arena

Pittsburgh's mayor is reacting to cellphone video of a violent arrest by Pittsburgh police in Uptown. 
"My reaction was just like everybody else's, it looks bad," Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said, commenting for the first time on video that shows a violent arrest at the hands of a Pittsburgh police officer.

PITTSBURGH — The FBI confirmed Friday that they are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Daniel Adelman outside of PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night.

The officer in the video seen punching and slamming the head of Daniel Adelman has been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

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"If it does show that there was no evidence to show that it was warranted, then action will be taken," Peduto said. "If it does show that there was a reason, then obviously it would be a different scenario."
Peduto said he's reserving judgment until the investigation is complete. Whatever led to this, he believes it's an isolated incident.
"I don't want one incident to be the arbittrator of how Pittsburgh police and the community interact," Peduto said.
Plenty of eyes will be focused on the city's investigation, including those of Tim Stevens with the Black Political Empowerment Project.
He's calling for am impartial investigation to find out what really happened.
"We view these as setbacks, they are unacceptable setbacks," Stevens said. "We want to nip it in the bud before it becomes in any way commonplace."
The city is requesting to see surveillance video from PPG Paints Arena, which may have captured the entire incident.
There's no timetable for when the investigations will wrap up.

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Sources inside the Pittsburgh police describe the training officers get for dealing with suspects is like "Fight Club."

They say that training is reflected in a series of incidents, including the violent arrest outside of PPG Paints Arena.

Veteran police officers tell Channel 11 there's a serious issue with training and they say that instructors are focusing on fighting instead of de-escalation.

Sources contend instructors at the academy are focusing on aggressive fighting tactics instead of de-escalation and subject control.

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Peduto said he wasn't aware of any training issues, but he's already talked with police.

"I've already had conversations with them about the possibility of bringing in outside resources to continue the training in de-escalation," he said.

Target 11 has learned that some of the instructors are experts in Krav Maga, an Israeli self-defense tactic, tae bo and mixed martial arts; fellow officers refer to them as the Fight Club.

One of the instructors was involved in the 2010 Jordan Miles arrest. The officers were never charged, but the city paid Miles $100,000 in a civil case.

A police spokesperson said other officers have benefited from his experience. During the past year, all officers had 24 hours of use of force training, including de-escalation.

The head of the Citizens' Police Review Board stopped short of calling it a training issue, and said it's a fine line, but officers need to know how to defend themselves.

"They have to have those skills and then whether or not they are affectively deploying them on the street, I can say we have not had a number of complaints, alleging that," Beth Pittinger said.

Peduto defended the current training, nothing that citizen complaints and lawsuits are both down.

The mayor's office released a statement regarding the investigation:

"The City of Pittsburgh welcomes this review by the FBI, as it provides yet another investigatory layer to this incident. There is now an internal investigation by the Office of Municipal Investigations and another external review by the Citizen Police Review Board. We will support whatever it takes to get all the facts on this matter, and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police will cooperate and provide any assistance necessary to the FBI during their review." 

 

Cox Media Group

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