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Lawton delivers testimony to Citizens Police Review Board
PITTSBURGH, PA (RTNS) - When Pamela Lawton stepped to the microphone at the Pittsburgh Citizens Police Review Board hearing on police conduct, the 75 people who crowded into City Council Chambers gave her their complete attention.
 | SPEAK UP--Minister Jasiri X introduces Pamela Lawton to the Civilian Police Review Board before her testimony.
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Lawton, a Hill District mother who claims Pittsburgh Police officer Eric Tatusko pulled a gun on her and a car full of children during a traffic stop, told the CPRB her story of the traumatic encounter, which traumatized her children and has yet to be addressed by any public official.
Lawton, joined at the speakers’ podium by Min. Jasiri X of Muhammad Mosque 22, spoke calmly and without tears for about eight minutes. Jasiri X also asked more than 20 people who came in support of Lawton to stand as she delivered her testimony.
Lawton said that on Aug. 26, she was driving her green, 1998 Ford Windstar with her two daughters, 7-year-old Joshalyn, 8-year-old Jasmine, and two other children ages 2 and 3. She said she was pulled over at the intersection at Kentucky Street and Negley Avenue. She said the police officer told her to “get your hands up,” and then pulled out his gun, on the passenger side of the vehicle when a Pittsburgh Police cruiser signaled for her to pull over.
“I said, ‘What’s the problem, officer?’ and he said ‘Get your hands up,’” wrote Lawton in a prepared statement. “He repeated, pulled out his gun and pointed into the passenger side of the window where my youngest daughter was trying to get her seatbelt off. So, I put my hands up.”
According to Lawton she testified that she and her children spent the next 20 to 30 minutes trying to convince officer Tatusko to put his weapon down or at least address his concerns to her. She testified that at one point, Tatusko cocked his gun to prepare to fire, while still training the gun on the children on the passenger side, telling 8-year-old Joshalyn if she moved again, he would “blow her brains out.”
“The children were in the car screaming and crying,” she wrote in a statement. “My hands were still in the air and I was screaming ‘Help, someone help!’ over and over again.”
“I understand why in a case like this you have to find out if it’s true or not,” said Lawton, concluding her testimony. “I’m here to tell you this is real so please help me.” Her remarks drew applause from the audience.
The CPRB then recessed to take her official statement.
The details of the police report said that Lawton became “belligerent and disorderly” during the stop. However, it did not say officer Tatusko drew his weapon or called for backup, which counters what witnesses at the scene said. Several police cars came to the scene and the officers reportedly put Tatusko in one of the cruisers, and then searched Lawton’s vehicle, which was later towed.
Several witnesses have corroborated Lawton’s version of the incident, which the CPRB is also investigating.
However, Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of the CPRB, said that if it is determined that a criminal act took place, the police would then conduct the investigation, and the CPRB would then be out of the loop. “Then it would be up to the district attorney to file charges,” she said.
The incident is being investigated by the city Office of Municipal Investigations, according to Pittsburgh Police spokesperson Tammy Ewin.
Ewin confirmed that Lawton received citations for disorderly conduct, operating a vehicle without a certificate of inspection, a lack of insurance and suspension of her license.
“There is no reason why a child should be afraid of the police. In school they teach that Officer Friendly will protect you,” testified Kay “The Button Pusher” Bey. “There’s a seven-year-old little girl right now who’s scared to go to sleep because of Officer Friendly. That is not acceptable, you shouldn’t accept it, I don’t accept it.”
“I don’t understand the dangers that officers face when they patrol the streets of Pittsburgh. However, it doesn’t add up to officers drawing weapons on unarmed women and children,” said Bomani Howze, a local teacher and father who brought his young son to the hearing with him. Howze said he has sent letters to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and council persons Bill Peduto, Tonya Payne and Twanda Carlisle urging them to look into the incident. No council persons attended the hearing.
“If we as Black men cannot protect our women and children, we do not deserve to live, period,” said Min. Jasiri X. “We need to stand up and get a backbone and back our community and protect our community. We ought to be the ones who police our community.”
“We cannot tolerate our two-year olds, our three-year olds, our seven-year olds, our eight-year olds with guns in their face,” said Tim Stevens of the Black Political Empowerment Project, who said he would send a letter to police chief Dom Costa urging action on the matter.
Although Pittinger was encouraged by the passion of those who came to speak out, she wishes the public showed interest in the board on a more consistent basis. Last year, she said the board held a meeting to discuss the experience of children exposed to police violence and very few people showed up. While she plans to use the meeting to introduce new initiatives like a Youth Working Group to the board, she also wishes she could do these kinds of things before major events happen. She summed up the CPRB’s need for public input by noting what her board chair, Marsha Hinton, told the crowd that night. “The power of the board rests in you.”
(Deborah Todd is a staff writer for the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
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