Brother acquitted in police-assault case

A man arrested for assaulting a Philly police officer last fall when he and his family tried to commit his brother to a West Philadelphia hospital for psychiatric care was acquitted today.

Municipal Court Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde found Orion Sistrunk, 39, not guilty of conspiracy, simple assault and reckless endangerment in the Oct. 25 incident outside Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, at 54th Street and Cedar Avenue. Another judge had dismissed an aggravated assault charge in December.

"I'm very happy with the decision, but I'm also saddened it took six months for the truth to come out," Sistrunk said afterward.

Sistrunk, a security guard at Nabisco, a retired professional boxer and a former Delaware County Prison correctional officer, was one of three family members arrested after officers Maurice Sutherland and Dionne Madison intervened as the family tried to coax Sistrunk's schizophrenic brother out of a parked car and into the hospital for care.

The family said Sutherland forcibly removed Brian Thomas from the car by beating him; they also claimed both officers manhandled and knocked Cynthia Morrison, the brothers' elderly, disabled mother to the ground. But the officers said Morrison punched Sutherland in the back, Sistrunk kicked him in the buttocks and Morrison's brother Frederick Thomas tried to sweep his legs out from under him.

Morrison, 67, was acquitted in February. Frederick Thomas, faces a June 30 trial, court records show.

Sistrunk said the case has shaken his trust in police.

"They're supposed to serve and protect, but it seems like we're the ones who have to be protected," he said this afternoon. "I'm just happy I can get on with my life now."