For the second time, Jordan Miles, who was allegedly beaten severely by plain-clothes police during an arrest Jan. 12, must wait to defend himself on charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest.
Miles attorney, Kerry Lewis, argued against the second delay granted by District Judge Oscar Petite Feb. 18, saying the charges should be dismissed. A Jan. 21 hearing was also postponed when officers Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak did not appear.
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JORDAN MILES
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Prosecutors requested the delay due to an ongoing FBI investigation into Miles claim that the officers beat him during his arrest.
Lewis, asking for dismissal, said the investigation is a separate issue.
“The real victim,” he told Petite. “Is standing before you.”
According to the police report, the officers stopped the 18-year-old Miles Jan. 12 on Tioga Street in Homewood, where he lives, for “sneaking around” with a “heavy object” in his coat. He ran and then fought with the officers when they tried to arrest him.
Miles, who said he was walking between his house and his grandmother’s house, said he ran because Ewing, Saldutte and Sisak did not identify themselves as police and attacked him when they caught up to him. Lewis said Miles was hit with a stun gun during the struggle, during which a chunk of his hair was yanked out and a tree branch went through his gums. He was hospitalized twice for his injuries.
The officers claim they identified themselves.
Lewis also told WPXI-TV Feb. 22 that Miles had passed a polygraph administered by the FBI at their South Side offices earlier in the day “with flying colors.” Though he was not present, Lewis said the questions pertained to the incident.
“Jordan wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said. Lewis. ”He was in his neighborhood, walking from his mother’s to his grandmothers—and he was attacked.”
The officers have been places on paid leave pending an internal police bureau investigation. The FBI, which does not comment on ongoing investigations, would not say whether the officers would also take polygraphs.
Miles, an honor student at CAPA High School who has played the viola for Michelle Obama during her G20 visit, must now wait until March 4 for his hearing.
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