Motorist acquitted of assaulting Pittsburgh officers asks for other charges to be dropped

The lawyer for a man acquitted of assaulting Pittsburgh police officers in a racially charged case asked a judge Friday to dismiss the remaining charges against him.

Leon Ford, 21, was paralyzed when Officer David Derbish shot him five times in what the officer said was self-defense during a traffic stop in November 2012 in Highland Park.

An Allegheny County jury Sept. 15 deadlocked on charges of recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest and escape. Ford is black, and the officers are white.

Ford's attorney, Fred Rabner, said in an 18-page motion that prosecutors failed to prove the other charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Leon Ford is not a criminal,” Rabner said. “The city of Pittsburgh, working in concert with the District Attorney's Office, is using the criminal justice system to cover for their faults, their own mistakes, and for the fact that they paralyzed an unarmed teenager on his way to his grandmother's house.”

A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. declined to comment, citing a gag order in the case.

Rabner said Derbish and two other officers needlessly escalated the situation by detaining Ford for 16 minutes and refusing to believe he was who he said he was.

Common Pleas Judge Donald E. Machen, who has said he plans to retire next month, initially gave prosecutors until Sept. 26 to tell him whether they will proceed with another trial or dismiss the charges against Ford. Zappala told the Tribune-Review that his office has a year to decide whether to retry the case.

Adam Brandolph is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.