Mountain Dew or Gun?

Jordan Miles, an honor student and high school violist, is accusing the police of brutality. He was walking from his mother's home to his grandmother's house when three undercover white police officers jumped out of a car and approached him around 11 p.m. on January 12. He ran from the plain clothes officers who he said did not announce themselves as police. They chased and caught him, beating him mercilessly. After the attack they said they pulled from his pocket what they thought was a gun… It turned out to be a Mountain Dew bottle. Since when did we have to walk the streets with empty pockets? If I walk around with a bulge in my pocket I’m going to get stopped because APPARENTLY it’s a gun, right? Ridiculous…

Now, 10 days after the altercation, his right eye is still slightly swollen and bloodshot. His head is shaved because he suffered many head lacerations and bald spots. The officers who arrested him have been reassigned and his mother says she is considering a lawsuit.

"I feel that my son was racially profiled," Terez Miles said. "It's a rough neighborhood; it was after dark. ... They assumed he was up to no good because he's black. My son, he knows nothing about the streets at all. He's had a very sheltered life. He's very quiet. He doesn't know police officers sit in cars and stalk people like that."

Description Jordan Miles after police beating.

(phot. KDKA CW ©)

The police department is saying little as it investigates and isn't releasing the officers' names. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said that the city is investigating whether the officers' actions were justified and that if they weren't, "they will be held accountable for those actions." "The incident was very troubling to me, and we're taking it very seriously," Ravenstahl told reporters. "It seems as if there was a tremendous amount of force used." It SEEMS as though there was a lot of force used? Take a look at those pictures and judge for yourself.