“Pittsburgh’s Finest” – The Powerful Pittsburgh Police Force

The bad thing about crimes that occur in Pittsburg are when they involve our very own - "Pittsburgh's Finest" police officers. For this to be one of the 'most-livable' cities in the U.S., sometimes I ask myself, "Why" when we Pittsburghers have some very strange crimes taking place, and why do some of the crimes involve crimes committed by people that are hired 'to protect and serve'?

What do you think possesses some of the people living here to do the things that they do??? Some of the police-related crimes are alleged to be racially motivated. The question I have is WHY? Why are there so many racially motivated crimes and crimes committed involving police officers in one of the most livable cities in America?

Racially Motivated Crimes – Driving While Black
In 1995, just three years after the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles (see the below link) an African American man was murdered after being severely beaten by police officers (similar to the Rodney King beating) after driving a Jaguar through Brentwood, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROn_9302UHg

For what many believe was a racially motivated beating, Johnny Gammage, cousin to Ray Seals former Pittsburgh Steeler. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Seals) was murdered in the Pittsburgh for what many believe was due to the fact that he was an African American man driving a Jaguar in a predominately white community. The very sad thing about this incident was that a life was taken of a person that was trying to make a difference in life... I had researched a link once describing the community and youth related things that Mr. Gammage was working on. (I will add that later to this post after I obtain the information again).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Gammage

For more information regarding the Johnny Gammage incident, please visit the youtube link, wikipedia, metafilter and other links. Just google the name and you will get many hits regarding this incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LgEdMtZIVQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Gammage

http://www.nommoproductions.com/

http://www.metafilter.com/45811/His-name-was-Johnny-Gammage

To my knowledge, Johnny Gammage’s beating was not video-taped; however, the police officers took the liberty to beat him to death. Mr. Gammage was a cousin to one of the Pittsburgh Steelers Ray Seals.

I was astonished after attended one of the events held at the Carnegie Library in Oakland, focused on discussing the death of Johnny Gammage that was attended by Coroner Cyril Wecht, the Citizen Police Review Board, attorneys, police officers, and concerned citizens, and one of the things said by one of the legal professional was, "If you, or you have a relative that is a young African American man living in Pittsburgh between the ages of 19 to 30, it may be wise to leave the city, because there appears to be a crime for driving while black" in the city of Pittsburgh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RhXU-2EJDE&feature=related

There are many more websites that discuss this event, I will list a few below.

http://www.kmf.org/gammage/newshistory.html

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pshell/gammage/flyer.html

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-480928321.html

The Johnny Gammage incident reminds me the incident that ignited the Los Angeles Riot and civil unrest of 1992, described on the links listed below.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2509504n

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_riots_of_1992

http://www.prop1.org/legal/prisons/kinga2.htm

The below link will document the outcome of the verdict of the trial.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n6_v89/ai_17932592/

I happened to be living in LA at the time and must admit, that incident and the time following it, was one of the most frightening times of my entire 15 years of living in LA. More frightening than the biggest earthquake I ever encounted while living in LA. The energy and racial tension was so intense, it inspired me to write a poem that later developed into a song that I've posted to youtube. I wrote the song, based on the way I felt at the time following the beating of Rodney King and the outcome of the trial when the officers were acquitted. The song is called, "It's a Mental Game," the link is posted below. The footage is actual footage relating to and following the LA riot. Please check out MY video It's A Mental Game and share your thoughts with me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWnqgPSKWW4&feature=related

There are many other crimes committed again individuals in the Pittsburgh and surrounding areas that are alleged to be racially motivated, and/or police brutality related crimes. Some are mentioned in the link http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/features/police/.

Death of A Child – By The Officers Hired to Protect and Serve
Another interesting case involving a death committed by one of our Pittsburgh's Finest police officers involve the death of a young African American male named Michael Ellerbee that was shot in his back while fleeing from the police in 2002. More details in the below links.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/21674262/detail.html

http://www.defenestrator.org/ellerbe_suit

http://www.fansoffieger.com/hickenbottom.htm

http://www.ellerbe-store.co.cc/michael-ellerbe.htm

Another interesting blog-site that can be viewed links is below that talks more about the Michael Ellerbee, and Johnny Gammage case.
http://tobyspeople.com/anthropik/2005/10/whos-johnny-gammage/

I found the crimes in Pittsburgh to be interesting considering this is supposed to be one of the most liveable cities in the US. Wow, I wonder, what is one of the most unliveable cities like to live in? This is pretty scary.

Some of the things that can be developed from emotions resulting from the crimes are various, powerful art-forms. For example, in addition to the Mental Game song I wrote and later produced video, I've written other poems based on experiences. I entered a poetry contest back in around 2002 at the University of Pittsburgh and recited a poem that I wrote about love, and I won an 'honorable mention' for my poem; however, the 1st place winner that goes by the name 'Jasiri X'. Jasiri X wrote a very powerful poem regarding the death of Michael Ellerbee, since then he has written many more poems, songs and commentaries. He and a description of his writing and reporting passion can be viewed by googling RealTalkXpress.com. You can see Jasiri X on the below link where he describes his creative way of using the Internet by reporting on the news, community issues with video on a weekly basis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qX-3HuB0Oc.

The possibilities of using the Internet for getting information and displaying your voice on various views are endless.

Fraudulently Reported Racial Crimes in Pittsburgh

Crimes are sometimes reported fraudulently by alleged victims. These types of crimes are dangerous and often result in other types of retailatory crimes being committed. Individuals should be severely punished for the crime of lying, especially when it could and does result in another crime as the lies result.

Below, I've posted information below that I obtained from the below link about another strange crime that occurred in - Da Burg after a 20 year old young lady Ashley Todd) lied about being attacked by a African American man.
http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/10/insanity_and_politics_mccain_s.php

"Will Ashley Todd's Story Implode Tomorrow?""Putting Ashley Todd's Story Out With The Trash."

Original Post: Police in the Bloomfield area of Pittsburgh, PA say a 20-year-old Ashley Todd may have been viciously assaulted because she had a McCain/Palin bumper sticker on her car. Sounds like it began as a routine robbery; the robber pulled a knife, Todd gave him sixty bucks. Then the criminal saw the McCain bumper sticker on the woman's car. He beat Todd with his hands and fists. Then, bizarrely, he used his knife to scratch a "B" on her face. Police told local Pittsburgh media that Todd refused treatment.

One Pittsburgh news outlet says only that Ashley Todd had the bumper sticker on her car. Another, the Post-Gazette, described the victim as a "McCain staffer" from Texas. The paper also quoted police spokesperson Diane Richards, who said authorities couldn't "substantiate" Todd's story, yet.

The suspect is said to be a 6'4", 200-lb African-American male. He was wearing dark clothing. The robbery wasn't captured on the bank's security cameras.

According to the Pittsburgh Channel, the Obama campaign has issued a statement about the attack, saying that their "thoughts and prayers are with the young woman for her to make a speedy recovery, and we hope that the person who perpetrated this crime is swiftly apprehended and brought to justice."

CBS 13 published a report online stating that the Republican candidate for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, "spoke with the victim by phone." The McCain campaign has issued their own statement about the crime, calling it "sick and disgusting."

This crime is so bizarre and potentially politically-charged it's already produced a screaming, bold-red headline at the Drudge Report. Be prepared to hear a lot more about it.
xxx

The bad thing about this situation is that Ashley accused an African American man of committing the crime. This is unfortunate because of the timing, with an African American man running for president and because there are many crimes that occur that result in death or almost based on race-related factors. You have to ask yourself, why did Ashley say that an African American man committed the crime, when in fact, she created the crime herself???

This concerns me because there are various unjust crimes committed against African Americans in the city of Pittsburgh; therefore, Why would Ashley Todd create a racially motivated crime, when knowing that by saying a African American man did the crime, could and would create unnecessary racial tensions, towards African American men, in an already racially tense city.

Crimes That Occur - Close to Home

A strange thing about Pittsburgh, is that although to some, it may appear to be a BIG place, but if you are from Pittsburgh (born and raised), it is a very small world and oftentimes growing up here, you are often affected tremendously by many of the crimes that you see taking place on the news here.

A local crime that I thought was very interesting involved Lamont Lewis, a 46 African American man that robbed a 77 year old Caucasian woman. Someone that I personally know committed a senseless crime that did not have to occur to an innocent person, a 77 year old woman trying to get home after a trip on a Greyhound Bus. When the news came on, my entire family was shocked – to say the least…

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/14496320/detail.html
Be sure to check out the surveillance video in the link.

This crime was strange to me because, I personally know the young man that committed the crime.

Another crime that was close to home for me involved, Shelton Flowers, a cousin of mine that was murdered in the Waterfront Loews Theater. There was a lot of national news regarding this incident because the murder occurred after my cousin Shelton watched a movie by the famous rapper, 50 Cents. You may review the links for more information.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/5293303/detail.html

http://www.ezilon.com/information/article_13573.shtml

This was a very painful incident because this was his mother’s eldest son and the family agonized a great deal following the loss. At the time I was taking a journalism class at the University of Pittsburgh that was discussing all current events (including this one) and I felt it necessary to take a couple weeks off to deal with the situation and avoid the discussion and comments that were made in the class regarding the incident, since it was so close to home for me.

I truly believe that the things displayed by the media have a very strong affect on how individuals react and that after viewing and hearing about so many types of senseless crimes – so many times, some people actually believe that this type of behavior is acceptable.

Please see the photo in the below link and article titled, “Reality Mimics Media Violence.” I had to look closely at the photo so see if the guy lying on the floor was my cousin, but was relieved that it was a clip from the film, “Get Rich Quick or Die Trying.”

http://www.despardes.com/Entertainment/chanachoor/nov05/2.html

When crimes that appear in the news that involve people that you know, it also affects you a bit more since you now have to accept the fact that your friend, family member or loved one has committed or has been involved in a very serious ‘news-breaking’ crime. The outcome of the Waterfront Loews Theater crime can be reviewed by reviewing the below link.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06291/730996-100.stm

After I read the article, it became another painful memory of the sadness that occurred following the incident.

Although a person gets LIFE in jail for committing a crime, you can never get a LIFE back after a person has been killed…

I personally believe that many crimes are the result of joblessness, drug abuse, and deep-rooted behavioral health issues.

Another Strange 'Newsbreaking' Crime (Not In Pittsburgh)

Now, I am a little upset. I was working on updating things in my blog and news pops up in my e-mail regarding a shooting involving police officers that were murdered after being ambushed per the link http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/21752966/detail.html?treets=pit&tml=pit_natlbreak&ts=T&tmi=pit_natlbreak_1_12010211292009.

First, I thought it was a Pittsburgh crime, because it reflected that it was Washington (which is also a city within close proximity of Pittsburgh). This particular crime occured in Tacoma, Washington (in Washington state, not far from Seattle, Washington). Then after reviewing the link, that although Pittsburgh has it's share of strange and interesting crimes, this 'strange crime thing' is world wide. Pittsburgh is just a small sampling, but it is a BIG Deal to me when things occur in Pittsburgh. I always think.... Things like this are not supposed to occur in Pittsburgh, PA.

The question, I pose again is WHY??? Why do these strange crimes occur and the next question is WHAT will it take to decrease and stop the increase of crimes against innocent people??? Is anywhere safe? Please share your views and comments.

Strange Crimes' in the City of Pittsburgh

There are many interesting crimes that occur in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is described in Wikipedia as noted on the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh.

One of the most recent nationally reported crimes involved a mass shooting at an LA Fitness Center involving George Sodini as noted in the links noted below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/04/bridgeville-gym-shooting-_n_251411.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8258001&page=1

http://mashable.com/2009/08/05/sodini-blog/

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/full_text_of_gym_killer_blog_9hd681zrqxoYTPxXiALPON

Many wondered, why would such a nice looking young man do such a terrible thing to so many innocent people? I personally don't understand it. Many people don't. He appeared to have a lot going for himself. I guess it just goes to prove, that it is important to be nice to people all of the time, because you just don't know what is going on in their heads...

More of a reason to following the Golden Rule. Per Wikipedia, "The Golden Rule is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others. It is also called the ethic of reciprocity." I don't mean to preach but there are many things in the Bible that can help us in our everyday life to avoid some occurrences from happening. Don't just read the Bible, but practice living the way the good book instructs us to, Do unto others, as you want others to do unto you (Luke 6:31). Scriptures from the bible has saved many lives when it comes to the difference between life and death and other crimes committed against a person. This has nothing to do with this blog, but I wanted to share it with you since it has come to my mind to do so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDmp967UMds

http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7456846

I think that before people act or react to things, they need to think about the consequences. Crimes can be avoided, if people would just think about what they are doing... And to also think about the outcomes of the crimes...

Interesting Crimes From The Past in "Pittsburgh - Someplace Special"

Some of the interesting crimes that have occurred in our "Someplace Special" Pittsburgh involve Ronald Taylor who shot people at McDonalds, Burger King and other places in the Wilkinsburg (my place of residence). Please see the link http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20000307taylor1.asp

This was a real shocker since Wilkinsburg is often called the 'City of Churches' and does not have one bar in the entire borough. This was, I believe a normal February day. I caught the bus to work that day; therefore, getting home on the bus was challenging due to the madness that was going on. When I passed Wilkinsburg, every type of news reporters' vehicle was parked on street, from Channel 4, 2, 11 to CNN. Wow. Ron Taylor target non-African Americans. It is interesting to read the past lives and history of some of these people to try to figure out 'what makes them tick?' See the link on Ronals Taylor http://www.paejp.duq.edu/Taylor/lifeandc.htm

Another intersting crime was Richard Baumhammer He shot up various establishments in the Ross He decided to shoot of non-caucausians. Please see the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Baumhammers Richard Scott Baumhammers (born May 17, 1965[1]) is an American immigration attorney and spree killer who began a racially motivated crime spree on April 28, 2000 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which left five individuals dead and one paralyzed... AND Richard Scott Baumhammers (born May 17, 1965[1]) is an American immigration attorney and spree killer who began a racially motivated crime spree on April 28, 2000 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which left five individuals dead and one paralyzed.

More to follow... More to come...