Jury clears 1 officer, deadlocks on another in shooting trial

A jury cleared one Pittsburgh police officer of assault allegations Tuesday but deadlocked on whether another officer violated a man’s civil rights when he shot him as the man’s car sped away from a traffic stop with the officer still inside.

Jurors returned the partial verdict a couple hours after returning from a three-day weekend.

The 10-member jury of two men and eight women had told the judge Friday they were deadlocked in the lawsuit filed by 24-year-old Leon Ford, who is black, against white officers David Derbish and Andrew Miller.

The judge instructed the jury, which had no black members, to continue deliberating in the civil rights trial held amid concerns about black men nationwide being shot by officers in recent years.

The split verdict means Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Maureen must schedule another trial focused solely on Ford’s claim that Derbish used excessive force.

The jury cleared Miller of Ford’s assault and battery claims.

“I am confident that the truth will come out again the next time a jury hears my case,” Ford said in a statement issued by his attorneys after the verdict. “The police pulled me over for no reason, mistook me for someone else and shot me. Before they shot me, they cursed at me, threatened and tortured me as if I was less than human. They claimed they saw a gun on me that did not exist.”

Fred Rabner, one of Ford’s attorneys, said Ford will be “better off” at the retrial the judge hopes to schedule for early next year because, “the focus will be laser sharp on Derbish.”

Derbish and Miller walked briskly from the courtroom after the verdict, and their defense team declined to comment.

The November 2012 shooting left Ford a paraplegic who must use a catheter six times a day and clear his bowels manually, Rabner had told the jury. Ford also was left without any sexual function, he said.