PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jurors are continuing deliberations 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.
Twenty-four year-old Leon Ford is suing Officers David Derbish and Andrew Miller for the November 2012 traffic stop where Derbish shot Ford five times. Jurors in the federal case started deliberating Tuesday and haven’t yet reached a verdict Friday.
The officers maintain that Derbish shot Ford because he was resisting and 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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