Citizens Police Review Board To Discuss Larimer Shooting, South Side Chase
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh's Independent Citizen Police Review Board is set to hold a meeting this evening. They are expected to discuss two recent incidents involving police officers' actions that are being reviewed.
Cell phone video captured the tense moments when Donald Burris and his mother found themselves on the other side of the law.
Investigators say Burris allegedly led authorities on a chase after a botched drug deal and traffic violations in Homestead. It ended with police firing into their vehicle on a crowded street on the South Side.
"I can imagine it was a horrific one, and one we wish wouldn't have happened," Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said last week during a press conference.
At the time, Mayor Ravenstahl said while he wished the incident wouldn't have happened, police officers are trained to keep the public safe.
"At that moment, they felt that's what they were doing," he said.
The Allegheny County District Attorney soon joined in the investigation, and Pittsburgh's Independent Citizen Police Review Board also questions whether police followed proper procedure.
The board will also take a look at another instance where police officers' actions were called into question.
It was on New Year's Eve when two officers responded to a 911 call from Ka'Sandra Wade's home in Larimer.
The officers spoke with a man through a window. He told them everything was fine, and that they couldn't come in.
"They should have continued to ask questions," said Stephen Zappala, the Allegheny County District Attorney.
The officers left, and Wade's body was found the next day. She had been shot to death.
The suspect in her death, identified as Anthony Brown, left behind a note before he took his own life.
It reads: "They had a chance to save her and they didn't do it last night. They came and left. I did it right before midnight. May God have mercy on me."
The District Attorney's Office has already come out and said officers did not "go by the book" in the Wade case.
While the review board will be talking about both incidents this evening, it is expected to make some general recommendations in the Wade case.
The Citizens Police Review Board is a group that promotes responsible citizenship and professional law enforcement through what it calls "mutual accountability."
RELATED LINKS:
Police Internal Affairs, D.A. & Review Board Probing South Side Incident (1/15/13)
Zappala On Larimer's Woman's Death: Police Actions Not Consistent With Training (1/18/13)
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