Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review Board this week found allegations that an officer improperly handled a woman’s arrest at PrideFest “unsustained.”
Executive director Elizabeth Pittinger noted that video from a nearby business showed that Ariel Lawther, then 19 of Harmony, contributed to the confrontation that led to her arrest and also that the video was most consistent with the statements of Officer Souroth Chatterji, who wrote in an affidavit that he tried to intervene and was struck by Ms. Lawther.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the other video, however I trust the CPRB’s analysis. The way the OMI has been secretive about this evidence doesn’t exactly set a comforting precedent.
Andrew Zimmerman from the Pittsburgh City Paper has written extensively on this issue.
