Leon Ford has finally been set free.
Not by the prison or jail system but by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala.
Zappala for some strange reason decided to delay his decision to prosecute Leon Ford for minor charges after a jury in September acquitted him of the most serious charges but deadlocked on the lesser charges of reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and escape.
As long as these charges were pending a gag order by the judge was in affect so Ford could not speak publically of what is going on in his civil suit against the city and the three officers involved in the shooting.
There have been several rallies for Ford in which his supporters and father have spoken and he has been there, but he couldn’t speak.
For those of you who have been totally secluded and have only been watching reality shows on TV, Ford was stopped for a routine traffic stop primarily because the police thought he was someone else. But for some reason even when they found out he wasn’t the man they were looking for they detained him, which led to an incident in which he was shot 5 times and paralyzed from the waist down. He was 19 at the time; he’s only 21 now.
I can imagine the hardship on the family having to deal with all the medical bills. Hopefully they have health insurance, but he was at the age when most kids, especially males, are leaving home with no insurance just starting out on their own. Thank God the new Obama Care laws allows families to keep their children on their insurance for six years after 18 or after they graduate from college. This gives the child and family a chance to go to college, trade school or just find a job while still being covered by health insurance.
Ford to my knowledge has no criminal record and why the officers reacted the way they did doesn’t make sense, or why Ford reacted the way he reacted doesn’t either if what has been reported is accurate.
The DA could have taken up to two years to make his decision; thank God he didn’t because that would have been a huge injustice to both Ford and the officers involved. Now hopefully this whole issue will be resolved in a court of law, but there’s nothing that can be done to bring back Ford’s legs.
Hopefully this is a lesson to both the police and young males when they are pulled over, what to do.
Police need to be trained that all people are innocent until proven guilty, even young Black males, and that they must treat everyone with dignity and respect. The way they would want their sons to be treated.
Young Black males must understand that these men have guns and will not hesitate to use them so treat the officer with dignity and respect not only as law officers who are enforcing the law, but also because they have guns. Don’t give them any reason to use their guns. Because even though most will do everything within their power to not use force or their guns if they feel threatened they will not hesitate.
I say that because I have seen firsthand how some of these young males react when a police officer pulls them over or is talking to them. The language coming from their mouths you would not want your children or mother listening. They sometimes create a confrontational situation and the officer being human wants to show who’s the boss, who’s in power, who’s the man.
One thing our young males must be taught is that this is a no win situation because even if they do get the best of the officer they will most likely be arrested and convicted of resisting arrest or worse.
Several years ago Tim Stevens conducted classes and produced information on how people should react or conduct themselves when stopped by the police. This needs to be done again. And on the other side, police need to be trained how to conduct themselves when addressing citizens under every circumstance, including arrests. And this needs to be taught in officers’ training school.
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My condolences go out to the family of Burrell Brown who was a quiet behind the scenes activist for Civil Rights and a great educator as well.
Brown, who died recently, was an attorney who used his knowledge and skills for 40 plus years to assist western Pennsylvania as well as the Pennsylvania NAACP branches in their fight for Civil Rights. A lot of the time the quotes came from the NAACP branch presidents, but the brain trust in what was legal came from Brown. He was one of the founders of the Homer S. Brown Law Association, which is made up of Black lawyers that do various important things every year to help young people interested in entering the law field. They also give out several scholarships to these students.
Brown was also a highly respected professor at California University of Pennsylvania where he was the chair of the Department of Business and Economics. Even though he was concerned about all students achieving an education Brown worked hard to influence young Blacks to be more concerned about business and economics because he felt that this was where Blacks, more than anywhere else, could move from poverty to build their communities while achieving real power. Even though he was always very active he always preferred to be in the background instead of up front. We will miss you Burrell.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
