PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Latest on the split verdict in the civil rights lawsuit filed by Leon Ford, a black man shot by a white Pittsburgh police officer during a November 2012 traffic stop (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
A black Pittsburgh man shot and paralyzed by a white city police officer during a 2012 traffic stop says he’s “confident the truth will come out” during the second trial of his civil rights lawsuit against the officer.
Twenty-four-year-old Leon Ford made that comment after a federal court jury deadlocked Tuesday on an excessive force claim against Officer David Derbish. The same jury cleared a second white officer accused in the lawsuit of assault and battery stemming from the same traffic stop.
A judge hopes to schedule a retrial on Ford’s claim against Derbish early next year.
The officers say Derbish shot Ford because Ford tried to drive away as they struggled inside Ford’s vehicle. But Ford says the car was inadvertently knocked into gear as police struggled to pull him from the vehicle after mistaking him for a wanted gang member.
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11:15 a.m.
A jury has cleared one white Pittsburgh police officer and deadlocked on charges against a second in a civil rights lawsuit filed by a black man paralyzed when he was shot during a traffic stop.
Jurors returned the partial verdict Monday, three days after they told the federal judge they were deadlocked in the lawsuit filed by 24-year-old Leon Ford against officers David Derbish and Andrew Miller.
Jurors were deadlocked on the excessive force charges against Derbish. They cleared Miller of assault and battery charges.
The judge will schedule a retrial for next year.
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8:45 a.m.
Jurors are set to resume deliberations after a three-day holiday weekend in a civil rights lawsuit filed by a black man paralyzed by a white Pittsburgh police officer during a traffic stop nearly five years ago.
Jurors told a federal judge in Pittsburgh on Friday they were deadlocked in the lawsuit filed by 24-year-old Leon Ford against officers David Derbish and Andrew Miller but were told to keep deliberating and return Tuesday.
The officers maintain Derbish shot Ford five times during the November 2012 traffic stop because Ford tried to drive away as they struggled inside Ford’s vehicle. Miller is being sued for assault and battery
But Ford says the car was inadvertently knocked into gear and that the officers acted aggressively because they thought he was a gang member with a similar name, age and appearance.
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