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Friday, February 21, 2003

By Jonathan D. Silver, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

About 20 people, some wearing signs demanding justice, gathered yesterday morning in front of the Mount Oliver Municipal Building to protest the deaths of four African-Americans in which police were either directly involved or suspected of playing some role.

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"People shout. People yell. This time the police will go to jail!" they cried toward the end of the 45-minute rally, which began at 10 a.m. Several vehicles passing by on Brownsville Road honked in support.

A recently formed group, People Against Police Violence, organized the protest after getting word Wednesday from Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht that his office will hold an open inquest into the Oct. 4, 1999 death of Damian Jordan.

An autopsy ruled that Jordan, 24, hanged himself in a holding cell at the Mount Oliver police station. He was found with his T-shirt around his neck sometime after his arrest in connection with a domestic dispute.

Wecht authorized reopening the case after People Against Police Violence contacted the coroner's office with questions they believe the Allegheny County Police did not address in their original investigation.

"We just don't believe that he took his own life," said protest organizer Renee Wilson, who held up a 1995 picture of Jordan in a dress shirt and tie standing aboard the Gateway Clipper. "The police took him to jail and in two hours he decides to kill himself? That doesn't make sense."

Wilson said the family wants to know why Jordan's body was bruised.

Summer Edmunds, Jordan's girlfriend at the time and the mother of his 5-year-old son, J.J., echoed Wilson's sentiment.

"I really don't believe he killed himself. No matter how upset he was with me, his son was the most important thing," said Edmunds, 25, of Knoxville.

Asked yesterday why his office did not conduct an inquest in 1999, Wecht said, "Nobody had voiced any concerns in this case at that time."

However, Wecht acknowledged that it was the type of death that merited further investigation.

"I'm not sure why nobody picked up on it," Wecht said. "I think someone should have brought it to my attention and discussed it with me at that time and had that been done, I would have said, 'Yes, let's have an inquest.' "

Wecht confirmed that Jordan had suffered other injuries, but he added, "Insofar as the cause of death is concerned, they were of no consequence.

The inquest will address such topics as Mount Oliver police policies when jailing someone, the frequency of checks on people in custody, and safety measures taken in the holding cell.

Jordan was arrested after a dispute with Edmunds.

Protesters also included family members and friends of Charles Dixon, 43, of Altoona, who died Dec. 22 after a scuffle with Mount Oliver police; Michael Ellerbe, a 12-year-old Uniontown boy who was fatally shot by state police Dec. 24; and Bernard Rogers, 26, of the Hill District, who was shot Nov. 15 by Pittsburgh Housing Authority police.