Witness Comes Forward In Station Square Police Incident
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Eddie Lojak, his face scarred by a weekend incident with police officers, turned himself in at Pittsburgh Police headquarters on Wednesday.
"It's alarming to say the least," Phil DiLucente, Lojak's attorney, said. "There's another officer who actually put his foot on… or his leg on his back and repeatedly punched him."
Lojak, who was out with friends in Station Square on Saturday, was admittedly drunk and had a run in with police just after leaving a bar.
"Cops came up from behind me and one just shoved me down as hard as he could face first onto the pavement, and then they all jumped on me," said Lojak.
His nose was broken. He also has a concussion, a broken rib, chipped teeth, stitches across his face and a chunk of skin was ripped from his tongue.
"When he pushed me from behind so hard and I hit, and I skidded face first, like literally skidded," Lojak said. "I felt myself dragged across the pavement and I just laid there motionless."
Cell phone video captured up the incident, showing a police officer striking him twice, and three other officers holding him down.
"It was terrible, honestly," said a witness who did not what to be identified. "And the big cop just smashed this kid who was standing, watching his friend get arrested."
The witness, who does not know Lojak, was so shocked by the incident that he reached out to KDKA.
"He fell flat on his face, slid across the ground on his face," the witness said.
Police investigators say Lojak was approaching a friend who had just been arrested, that he was exhibiting an aggressive manner, that his fists were clenched.
The witness said he saw none of that.
KDKA's Marty Griffin: "According to police, Eddie was advancing towards police officers with his hands clenched."
Witness: "No, he didn't do anything. He was standing there. He was standing, watching his friend and he got hit from behind."
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