Jordan Miles, a former student at Pittsburgh's Creative and Performing Arts High School, was brutally beaten by three city police officers one January as he walked to his grandmother's house. The treatment of the 18-year-old violin player, whose charges were dismissed by a district judge, has outraged many in the community.
In a huge blow to those who were waiting for justice, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today it has closed its investigation into the beating, explaining, "Federal officials concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt" that the officers violated the teen's rights.
The officers said that they confronted Miles because he appeared to be "sneaking around," and they used a stun gun because they saw an object in his pocket that they thought was a weapon but turned out to be a Mountain Dew bottle.
Miles says he ran because the officers didn't identify themselves and, having never been in trouble with the law before, thought he was being robbed. He was charged with a string of crimes that were all dismissed.
"The story just doesn't make sense when you read the affidavit," his attorney said.
That's just one part of this story that doesn't make sense. Another is, what in the world (even if Miles were a real criminal) could possibly require that three men beat the face of one teenager to a bloody pulp?
Thankfully, while federal investigators have announced that they will not file charges against three officers involved, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office is continuing to review it.
Read more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In other news: Obama Visits Ground Zero.
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