BY EDWIN FRUIT
PITTSBURGH - More than 50 people picketed in front of the
Allegheny County Courthouse July 30 to condemn the decision
of a Pennsylvania state judge to dismiss manslaughter charges
against two cops involved in the killing of Jonny Gammage.
Gammage died at the hands of five suburban cops after his car was pulled over on October 12, 1995. Of the five, one was acquitted, two have gone through two trials, both ending in mistrials, and two were never charged.
A week earlier, Pittsburgh NAACP president Tim Stevens spoke at a July 23 press conference at the organization's headquarters.
Stevens read a statement which in part said, "Judge Joseph F. McCloskey's opinion in the cases against Milton Mulholland and Michael Albert is an affront to African-Americans, and to all those persons, regardless of race, who have been our partners in the quest for justice in the death of Jonny Gammage.... All of the involved parties should take note that the NAACP is not satisfied. What we seek is the pursuit of justice. We must all still remember that a black man died at the hands of five well armed white police officers in what should have been a `routine traffic stop.' That reality is an unacceptable reality!"
At the rally, representatives of the Campus Coalition for Peace and Justice, Pittsburgh Urban League, Citizens for Police Accountability, the Socialist Workers Campaign, and others spoke.
Dorothy Urquhart of the United Concerned Christians at Work was among the speakers who called for the Justice Department to file civil rights charges against all five cops in the case.
Over the last year busloads of activists from Pittsburgh and Syracuse, New York, Gammage's home town, have rallied and met with representatives from the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., demanding action from the federal government.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on July 31 that District Attorney Stephan A. Zappala Jr. would not appeal the ruling of Judge McCloskey, thus bringing to a close any further local prosecutions in the case.
Edwin Fruit is a member of the International Association of Machinists and the Campus Coalition for Peace and Justice.