Police make arrests, issue citations after incident in Downtown Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — Channel 11 News has learned that several people were arrested or issued citations after an incident in downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday afternoon.

According to Port Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph, the incident started in the Wood Street T Station around 3:30 p.m.

Brandolph said two Port Authority police officers “attempted to identify a Brashear High School student who was tampering with escalator equipment when the student kicked them.”

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According to Brandolph, four other people attempted to intervene in the initial arrest.

One adult was taken to the Allegheny County Jail, one juvenile was taken to Shuman Juvenile Detention Center and three juveniles were issued citations.

Port Authority police later identified the arrested adult as 19-year-old Haji Muzhimu.

He is charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing public passages.

However, the actions of at least one officer at the scene are being called into question following the posting of a video of the incident.

Pittsburgh City Paper reporter Ryan Deto captured two and half minutes of the scene outside the Wood Street T Station and later shared it on PGHCityPaper.com.

• CLICK HERE to view the full video on the Pittsburgh City Paper's website

"The video shows the situation was kind of tense," he told Channel 11's Pamela Osborne.

Deto said he happened upon more than a dozen police cars, an arrest and an overall chaotic scene. Not long after, he became part of the story when a Pittsburgh police officer approached him, pointing a baton in his face.

Channel 11 showed the video to Citizen Police Review Board Executive Director Beth Pittinger, who said she didn’t like what she saw.

“I'm not sure we accomplished much in community relations in this incident,” she said.

Pittinger said the officer seen in Deto’s video addressing him and other bystanders is what concerned her the most.

“His language, the way he approached the reporter was not command and control language used by professional police officers,” she said. “That just defies explanation, in my opinion. It was unbecoming. He was angry - that just oozes out of him.”

Pittinger confirmed that the Pittsburgh Citizens Police Review Board has opened an inquiry into the officer's interaction with the City Paper employee.

WPXI