Allegheny County DA's office refiles charges against Pittsburgh protesters
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s office has refiled failure-to-disperse charges against 24 people who were originally charged in the spring during protests Downtown and in East Liberty.
Pittsburgh police initially arrested 61 people, but District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., at the time, said there was not enough evidence to support the charges filed. The counts were withdrawn.
However, Zappala’s office told the city police if they were able to produce enough evidence to sustain the counts, he would refile.
“Recently, at the direction of Mayor [Bill] Peduto, the Pittsburgh Police presented to my office tangible evidence for the refiling of these failure-to-disperse charges in the form of body camera footage, as well as surveillance video and more comprehensive investigations,” Zappala said in a statement on Friday. “The demonstrative evidence shows that the individuals being charged were repetitively directed by the police and given ample opportunity to disperse, often over an extended period, and failed to heed these notices.”
In the statement, Zappala said that the offenders will be charged by summons, which is the equivalent of a traffic ticket. Most of them, it continued, will be offered community service — and ultimately, the charges will be expunged.
On Friday afternoon, the mayor’s office issued its own written statement countering what Zappala said.
“The District Attorney’s Office is presenting disinformation. The Pittsburgh Police investigated potential criminal activity as is their responsibility,” the statement said. “They presented that information to the DA’s Office as requested. The DA’s Office makes decisions on what charges to file. The mayor has no role in the investigation of criminal activity, the presentation of evidence to the DA, or the filing of charges in this case or any other case ever.”
The protests — on May 30 and June 1 — stemmed from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 at the hands of a police officer.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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