Service held to remember Jonny Gammage's 1995 death

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Service held to remember Jonny Gammage's 1995 death

Shane Dunlap | Sunday, November 1, 2020 7:44 p.m.

Bishop Loran Mann, of Pittsburgh’s Pentecostal Temples Church of God in Christ, delivers a brief reading to a gathering of Pittsburgh-area clergy during a memorial service for Jonny Gammage, on Sunday at Seton Overbook Senior Center located near Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Pittsburgh. Jonny Gammage, a local Black businessman, was killed in October 1995 by police near Frank and Shirley’s Diner on State Route 51.

Prayers for mercy, justice, healing and peace were offered up Sunday to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of Jonny Gammage.

Gammage was 31 when he died Oct. 12, 1995, in Pittsburgh near Brentwood, after a traffic stop.

Brentwood police stopped him after noticing him braking frequently as he drove a Jaguar. The car belonged to his cousin, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Ray Seals.

Police officers from Brentwood, Baldwin and Whitehall tackled Gammage, handcuffed and pinned him on the ground in an attempt to subdue him. Gammage died of suffocation.

Authorities charged three officers with voluntary manslaughter. One officer was acquitted at trial. Charges against two others were dropped after two mistrials.

Pittsburgh Episcopal Bishop Dorsey McConnell lead a group of ecumenical clergy in prayers near the site where Gammage died. The clergy include priests of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and local leaders of other Christian denominations, including pastors of several historic Black churches.

The prayers ask for mercy, justice, healing and peace. The service recalled not only the life of Gammage, but also named 38 other individuals who died unjustly.

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