PITTSBURGH (AP) – The City Council on Monday approved paying $52,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by a black teacher who claimed he was wrongfully arrested by a White police officer outside a community meeting meant to improve police relations with Pittsburgh’s Black community.
The vote ends Dennis Henderson’s lawsuit against Officer Jonathan Gromek.
“This case starkly highlights why the Pittsburgh police have so many problems in communities of color,” said Witold “Vic” Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania.
Henderson, 39, a city public school teacher, had just left a meeting to discuss ways to improve communication and trust between the Black community and the police when he was arrested in June 2013.
Henderson was speaking to Rossano Stewart, a photographer for the New Pittsburgh Courier, when Gromek’s patrol car drove by close enough that Henderson and Stewart pressed against Henderson’s car for safety.
According to his lawsuit, Henderson said, “Wow!” – referring to the speed with which the officer was driving down a narrow street.
Gromek then turned around, stopped and confronted both men and asked Henderson, “Do you have a problem?” He eventually arrested the teacher when he and the photographer started using a cellphone to record the encounter as a crowd gathered.
Gromek’s attorneys have said in court papers that he handcuffed Henderson and took the other actions only for his own safety.
Henderson spent 12 hours in jail before prosecutors eventually withdrew his disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges. Gromek was reprimanded but remains on the force.
A city public safety spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the settlement, but Walczak has praised the city’s response to the lawsuit – and community relations in general – under new Chief Cameron McLay, who is White. McLay was hired in September.
Under the settlement, Pittsburgh police are instructing officers that citizens have a right to use cellphones to record police encounters. The city’s zone commanders also will have quarterly meetings with community leaders. And the city will consider a policy requiring officers to file reports whenever they encounter pedestrians. The city already does that for traffic stops, in part so they can be examined for evidence of racial profiling.
The police chief at the time of Henderson’s arrest was Black. He has since resigned and is serving 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to creating and stealing money from an illegal police slush fund.
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