Getting away with it

Too many Philadelphia corruption cases, too little time. I've written in this space many times about the remarkable work that Wendy Ruderman, Barbara Laker, and now David Gambacorta have done in exposing police corruption. But here's a sad fact: While the vast majority of police officers are hard-working and dedicated public servants, there are still more crooked cops than there are reporters (and hours in the day) to expose them,

Which is a long way of saying that I'm glad to see my friend Daniel Denvir of the City Paper is on the case:

On Aug. 31, 2010, Fernando Echevarria was walking near the corner of York and Leithgow streets in North Philly when he saw Jose Vargas, a friend from the neighborhood, in the back of a police car. He stopped to check it out: Vargas' face, he says, looked beaten up. Then, Echevarria claims, Police Officer Eric Burke told him to move along. He walked a few houses' distance away; there, two women told him that Burke had "messed" Vargas up pretty badly.