Lawyer Of Woman Arrested During Pride Fest Releases New Photos
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- More pictures have been released of the violent confrontation between a police officer and a 19-year-old woman who was arrested at a Pittsburgh Pride event.
The still photos show moments before and after the actual arrest of 19-year-old Ariel Lawther by Pittsburgh Police Officer Souroth Chatterji last month.
Video surfaced early on after the incident last month. It's 14 seconds long and appears to show the officer punching Lawther repeatedly.
Then, last week, the Fraternal Order of Police released a photo they say was taken before the video begins.
The FOP says it shows Lawther was the aggressor and needed to be controlled.
"She clearly knows that he is a police officer," said Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Jim Glick. "Second, she's grabbing his left hand, and as you can see, her right hand is on his other hand. This is a confrontation that has to be controlled, immediately."
Now, a lawyer representing Lawther, if she decides to sue the city, has given KDKA 18 photos from that day.
Steven Barth say he wants people to see as complete a picture as possible.
"We don't just look at one photograph and say, 'Aah! This is it,'" he said.
Barth has sent a letter with the photos to the mayor, police and the FOP.
Some of the photos don't seem to be relevant, but eight of them clearly are.
In two of photos, Lawther is bent over. In one, she's falling to the ground. In another, the officer appears to be on the radio, while holding her arm. Another photo may show what appears to be handcuff on her one wrist.
The problem with the photos is that Barth doesn't know the order of them.
"There is no sequence. I can't even tell you what the sequence is," said Barth.
He's hoping to get surveillance video from a number of cameras in the area to better understand the order of events.
"You need to get the full flavor of everything to understand what was going on that day," said Barth.
Lawther is charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct.
She's accused of attacking an anti-gay protestor and also hitting the officer.
The officer is on desk duty while the investigation continues.
RELATED LINKS:
Pride Fest Video Shows Officer Allegedly Assaulting Woman (6/16/14)
FOP: Photo Proves Officer's Actions Were Justified In Pride Fest Incident (7/19/14)
Citizen Police Review Board Says Pride Fest Photo Proves Nothing &/23/14)
More Reports by David Highfield
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