• Officer on desk duty as police review use of force in arrest outside PPG Paints Arena

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    PITTSBURGH - A police officer is now on desk duty as the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is reviewing police officers’ use of force during an arrest Tuesday night outside PPG Paints Arena after cellphone video came to light.

    RELATED: Attorney for one of the men involved in violent arrest outisde of PPG Paints Arena speaks

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    In a statement Wednesday, Mayor Bill Peduto said, "Officer Andrew Jacobs has been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the reviews. Our police officers are trained to de-escalate situations. This is part of the protocol of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. We have zero tolerance for deviation to that standard."

    Police said the incident started shortly after 10:30 p.m. when officers spotted a warrant suspect, 34-year-old David Jones, near the intersection of Lemieux Place and Centre Avenue. Jones was wanted out of Cranberry Township on forgery charges and previously fled from a Pittsburgh officer who tried to serve a warrant.

    According to the criminal complaint, when officers approached Jones, "Jones looked at me and stated, 'You're the officer I ran from before, aren't you?' Jones then attempted bull rush."

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    As officers were taking Jones into custody, another man, 47-year-old Daniel Adelman, tried to interfere with the arrest, leading to the incident caught on video. A police spokeswoman said he was forcibly taken into custody and was taken to the Allegheny County Jail on charges of obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest, and public drunkenness.

    The now-viral video shows a Pittsburgh police officer punching a suspect and repeatedly slamming him on the ground.  The suspects are both scraped and bruised after the violent arrest.

    Jones is being charged with flight to avoid apprehension as well as resisting arrest, according to the criminal complaint.

    Special Agent Robert Johnson, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Pittsburgh Field Office, released the following statement on Friday:

    “We are aware of the incident that took place outside of PPG Arena in downtown Pittsburgh on Tuesday evening, and we are reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding the matter in close coordination with the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania. If information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate.”

    “Our office has requested additional information from the city regarding this arrest.  In accordance with long established protocols regarding use of force matters, the effectuation of this arrest is under review," district attorney spokesman Mike Manko said. 

    On Friday, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office released the following statement:

    “It is the long standing policy of this office that if our office and the United States Attorney have a mutual interest in a situation and the USA makes a decision to pursue their interest, this office will not conduct a parallel investigation.”

    Pittsburgh police said the bureau began an internal review Wednesday morning of the use of force. OMI and OPS are also reviewing the incident.

    "We have a zero tolerance for excessive force among Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Officers. Our management of use of force includes an automatic review of every incident in which force is used when making an arrest," Chief Scott Schubert said in a statement. "In addition, we have initiated a review that is being conducted by our Office of Professional Standards so that we can ensure that the use of force was objectively reasonable considering the situation confronted by officers."

    "Was it reasonable and appropriate for the circumstance?" Beth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizens Police Review Board, said. "You have a lot of very vicious force going on there. Smacking this guy's head off the pavement is pretty concerning."

    While the video is hard to watch, it's what is heard from one of the officers that's equally concerning to Pittinger.

    "It doesn't matter whether it was a justified encounter or not, it's always going to be tainted with the verbal interventions and the verbal commentary that's heard on that video," Pittinger said. She's opened an inquiry into the incident, which could become a full investigation as early as next week. But she says the video reflects poorly on the officer's conduct.

    "The language, that reflects a deficiency in self-discipline and that goes back to a training issue," she said. "That goes back to the Bureau of Police."

    "At the end of our process, we intend to publicly share the results," Schubert said.

    The Fraternal Order of Police president Bob Swartzwelder released the following statement:

    "The matter at PPG is the subject of an internal investigation by the Bureau of Police. Departmental regulations and the Working Agreement between the City of Pittsburgh and Fraternal Order of Police Ft Pitt Lodge # 1 strictly prohibits any comments regarding an internal investigation until it is completed or is appealed beyond an arbitrators ruling."

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