Concert Goer Who Intervened In Police Action Sues Police For Injuries
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A man who was beaten by police officers outside PPG Paints Arena has filed a lawsuit.
Video of the incident surfaced showing police officers smashing Daniel Adelman's face into the ground outside PPG Paints Arena following the Roger Waters concert.
"With someone like Mr. Adelman, just treat him like he's a fellow officer and we probably wouldn't be here," says Adelman's attorney Steven Barth.
"They probably wouldn't have smashed his head off the ground. They probably would have given him the benefit of the doubt of not knowing that these plain clothes officers were officers, and we wouldn't be here today."
Barth has just filed a 52-page civil complaint against four Pittsburgh police officers, Chief Scott Schubert, the City of Pittsburgh, and Aramark Sports Services, alleging battery, excessive force, violation of civil rights, and false arrest, among other things.
Outside a concert last September, Adelman saw two men fighting each other.
"It looked like two individuals just fighting, so he stepped in to break it up, and then did not realize it was a police officer until it was too late," Barth told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Wednesday.
Turned out a plainclothes officer was arresting someone with an outstanding warrant.
But Adelman's intervention caused the officer and nearby uniformed officers to turn on him, resulting in a number of injuries, as Adelman told KDKA's Marty Griffin the day after the incident.
"I don't know how many stitches, but I cannot move my arm. It's dislocated," Adelman said on September 20, 2017.
The Fraternal Order of Police insists Adelman was in the wrong.
"You can't interfere in a police investigation or police arrest, especially when you have uniformed officers on the scene," noted Robert Swartzwelder, FOP president, on November 21.
But the District Attorney withdrew all charges against the 47-year old Ravenna, Ohio, resident.
Adelman's lawsuit alleges police escalated -- not de-escalated -- the situation, contrary to Mayor Peduto's command to city police.
"When you see an individual getting their face smashed into the cement by people who are there to protect and serve, it has to give you some kind of pause," says Barth.
KDKA reached out to the City and the police department for reaction to the lawsuit.
The response – "We do not comment on ongoing litigation."
The defendants have twenty days to respond to the lawsuit.
