Civil rights activist urges city, Leon Ford to settle remaining lawsuit in case

A Pittsburgh civil rights activist on Monday urged all parties in the Leon Ford case to put the incident behind them, nearly a week after a federal jury ruled in favor of one city police officer and deadlocked on another in the shooting that paralyzed Mr. Ford in 2012.

But part of the reasoning behind Tim Stevens’ call for a settlement in the case — that “there may have been bad decisions on all sides” and that no one knows all the details of what happened the day Mr. Ford was shot during a traffic stop — revealed a divide in messaging among community leaders.

The comments by Mr. Stevens, the chairman and CEO of the Black Political Empowerment Project, came during a news conference Monday at which he called on the city to offer a new settlement to Mr. Ford before Detective David Derbish goes to trial again in early 2018.

Brandi Fisher, president of the Alliance for Police Accountability, appeared beside Mr. Stevens at the conference but did not speak there. In a phone interview later, she said she agreed that a retrial would be costly and that a settlement would signal the city’s willingness to “make a move toward the healing we keep claiming we want to see.”

But Ms. Fisher disagreed with Mr. Stevens’ comment that Mr. Ford may have made bad decisions during the incident.

“I think statements like that just victimize victims all over again — that there’s something you did that caused your tragedy,” Ms. Fisher said. “In this case, there’s nothing Leon did that caused the harm that was done to him.”

Mr. Ford was shot by Detective Derbish, who was an officer at the time, during a traffic stop in Highland Park on Nov. 11, 2012. Mr. Ford sued the city, the officers and their supervisors in 2013. Many of his claims were dismissed, as were other defendants, leaving only the two claims against Detective Derbish and Detective Andrew Miller.

Jurors last week could not reach a decision on Mr. Ford’s civil rights claim against Detective Derbish, leading the judge to announce a retrial for next year. The jury rejected Mr. Ford’s claim of assault and battery against Detective Miller.

“I love Tim Stevens. He has taught me a great deal,” Ms. Fisher said. “But I could not further disagree with that statement. You have to take a position. Of course, there may have been things that we all can do differently sometimes, but I don’t think in this particular case that [Mr. Ford] was at fault for anything.”

Mr. Stevens said it was the officers’ “overreaction” that led to an escalation of the situation, but that it’s possible “anyone could make a mistake in their judgment under the circumstances.”

Asked what Leon Ford could have done differently, Mr. Stevens said: “If people can remember two or three things: When stopped, just turn your engine off. That way the police are

assured you are not going anywhere. Just that. Just that alone. Put your hands on the wheel or on the side of the car so they can see what you’re doing.

“At night, turn the dome light on so they can see you’re being open and transparent. Do you have to do all this? No. Is it in your interest? Yes. This is no way an accusation to Leon, because he didn’t know. If he did what I just said, he’d be out of that wheelchair today. This is a statement going forward about what people need to do.”

Police said the shooting occurred because Mr. Ford’s car began moving. Detective Derbish said he fired in selfdefense because Mr. Ford tried to shove him out of the car. Mr. Ford has said he did not recall how the car shifted into gear but denied shoving the officer.

“We don’t know what happened, absolutely,” Mr. Stevens said. “But we do absolutely know that this young man will be paralyzed for life after he showed all the information you’re supposed to show when you’re stopped. That’s a sad reality I think all of us can agree on.”

Mr. Stevens criticized the police for mistaking Mr. Ford for a violent gang member, Lamont Ford, and for jumping into Mr. Ford’s car, among others, but signaled that in order to move forward, there must be a settlement.

On behalf of Mr. Ford, Fred Rabner, one of his lawyers, said he remains “willing to solve this matter in an appropriate fashion.”

“We agree with Mr. Stevens that the tragedy of this situation is that Leon Ford will remain in a wheelchair for the rest of his life with the reduced life expectancy of 16 years because the officers misidentified him, despite Leon’s presentation of his valid license, insurance and registration papers all bearing his proper name,” Mr. Rabner said.

Mr. Rabner said he and his client will “do our fighting in the courtroom as we have for the past five years.”

In a letter to Mayor Bill Peduto and city law enforcement officials last week, Mr. Stevens said it is in the interests of all parties to “get this case behind us.”

“If this case goes in a certain ‘negative’ direction it could throw us back in our ongoing efforts,” Mr. Stevens wrote. “None of us want to see that happen.”

Timothy McNulty, the mayor’s spokesman, said Mr. Peduto received the letter and has “great respect” for Mr. Stevens, but declined to comment further because the case remains in litigation.

Also standing beside Mr. Stevens as he read his statement at the conference was Richard A. Stewart Jr., president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Pittsburgh branch.

Reached by phone Monday afternoon, Mr. Stewart said he was there in “solidarity,” and declined to comment on whether a settlement would be more beneficial in Mr. Ford’s case than a retrial.

The NAACP Pittsburgh president called into question the officers’ actions during the 2012 incident but also acknowledged he wasn’t there and hadn’t seen the whole video.

“Ford could have made some mistakes. We don’t know,” Mr. Stewart said. “Did he put his dome lights on? Did he put his hands on the steering wheel? Did he put his window down?”

Mr. Stewart urged unity between the community and police, and said Pittsburgh’s police “could be a model in years to come with the new training and what they’re looking to do.”

Mr. Stevens also acknowledged “significant improvements in community-police relations in Pittsburgh,” but Ms. Fisher said relations have worsened since November.

“Since the shift of change in leadership in our country and our local police department, things have taken a turn backwards. Our organization has received far more complaints,” Ms. Fisher said after the news conference.

Julian Routh: 412-263-1952 or jrouth@post-gazette.com, Twitter @julianrouth.