BY EDWIN FRUIT

PITTSBURGH - Over 150 people gathered November 13 at the Allegheny County courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh to protest the "not guilty" verdict delivered that day by an all-white jury in the trial of police officer John Vojtas, one of the three cops charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Jonny Gammage. On October 18, Judge David Cashman declared a mistrial in the case against two other cops indicted on similar charges. Those two cops await a new trial.

The coroner's report had said that Gammage, a 31-year-old businessman who was Black, died of suffocation through compression of his neck and chest after the cops stopped his car and put him under arrest. The jury for Vojtas's trial was selected from Lackawanna County, which is 350 miles away from Pittsburgh and has a population that is 99.3 percent white.

Shouting "No Justice, No Peace," and "You can run, you can hide, this is still homicide," an angry but disciplined picket scored the November 13 verdict. On just two hours notice, outrage over this injustice brought out the protesters, who included Black and white students, working people, and others.

Protesters marched to the Federal Building to illustrate their call for government intervention in the case. At a news conference held at the same time as the protest, the Pittsburgh NAACP called for a march for Saturday, November 16, starting in the Hill District in the Black community and ending at the Allegheny County Courthouse.

"The local system of justice has spoken, but we feel that a gross injustice has been done," said Tim Stevens at the NAACP news conference. He said the NAACP would ask the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to investigate "the apparent criminal violation" of Gammage's civil rights.

Edwin Fruit is a member of the International Association of Machinists in Pittsburgh.  
 
 
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