PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Black man shot and paralyzed during a traffic stop testified Monday at his criminal trial that one of the three White officers involved told him repeatedly, “I hope you (expletive) die.”
Leon Ford, 21, of Shaler Township, faces aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest charges stemming from the Nov. 11, 2012, traffic stop. He dragged an officer with his vehicle and was shot five times and paralyzed from the waist down.
Ford said one officer hissed the death wish “over and over in my ear” as he lay handcuffed and bleeding.
Ford, testifying in Allegheny County court from his wheelchair, has also sued the city and the three officers, accusing them of violating his rights and using excessive force. That case is pending in federal court.
But police allege in the criminal case that Ford endangered the officers when he tried to drive away from the traffic stop.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Schupansky contends Ford panicked when the officers pulled him over and tried politely but firmly to determine Ford’s identity. They thought he may be a gang suspect who was the same age and had a similar description and name.
During that time, one officer claimed to see a large bulge on Ford’s leg that he thought could be a gun.
Ford testified that he was so preoccupied by Officers Michael Kosko and Andrew Miller, who were trying to pull him out the driver’s-side door, that he didn’t realize Officer David Derbish had crawled in the passenger side and was kneeling on the seat.
“I was terrified,” Ford testified. “I didn’t know if they were gonna beat me up, shoot me, Taze me. They weren’t even acting like officers at that point.”
Ford said he couldn’t explain how or why the car drove forward for several seconds until he was shot by Derbish, who was trying to get him to stop the car. Ford denied trying to push the officer out of the moving vehicle, as police claim.
Ford said Kosko, who has since retired from the Pittsburgh force and now works in law enforcement in Florida, acted “agitated” from the start and eventually told him, “You’ll get your black (expletive) out of the car if I want your black (expletive) out of the car.”
When Kosko testified last week, he denied using profanity. A brief, muffled bit of audio caught by Kosko’s dash cam – and played in a loop while Ford testified – sounded as though Kosko used an expletive.
Schupansky tried to cast doubt on Ford’s testimony by comparing it to the account Ford’s attorneys gave in his federal lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Ford alleges the officers stopped him for speeding, though Ford testified Monday he wasn’t given a reason. The lawsuit also contends Ford was unconscious as he lay bleeding and handcuffed, which, Schupansky noted, meant Ford couldn’t have heard the officer wish him dead.
The lawsuit notes an internal police board determined officers contributed to the shooting by not following proper procedures. A defense expert witness, former Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Police Chief Michael Brasfield, testified Monday that the officers should have made Ford turn off his ignition and should have drawn their guns the moment Derbish thought a “bulge” in Ford’s pants was a gun – assuming police really believed that.
Ford’s attorneys contend police concocted the “bulge” story after the fact to explain their actions. No gun was found.
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