Grand-jury report triggers protest

Holding posters - one declared "The D.A. Says Who Ya Gonna Believe? Me or Your Lying Eyes" - demonstrators called on federal prosecutors yesterday to investigate the actions of Philadelphia police officers who had been exonerated by a grand jury in the videotaped violent arrests of three shooting suspects.

Attorneys Michael Coard and Willie Lee Nattiel Jr. had planned to file a private criminal complaint yesterday with the District Attorney's Office. Instead, at a news conference outside City Hall, Coard announced that they are now asking the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate whether federal criminal charges are justified against officers seen on a Fox 29 news video hitting and kicking the three men.

Last Thursday, D.A. Lynne Abraham announced that a grand jury had found that the officers who arrested the men on 2nd Street near Pike, North Philadelphia, should not be criminally charged.

The three suspects - Pete Hopkins, 21; Dwayne Dyches, 26, and Brian Hall, 24 - were not at the news conference, though members of Dyches' and Hopkins' families were among the 50 supporters. Coard and Nattiel - prominent city attorneys known to address African-American issues - do not represent the men as their attorneys.

The three men were accused of conspiring in a shooting on May 5, 2008, but a Common Pleas jury in July acquitted them of attempted murder and related charges.

Yesterday, Coard and Nattiel, as did the local NAACP president on Monday, denounced Abraham's decision to convene a grand jury, whose investigation was led by her office.

Other speakers yesterday included Minister Rodney Muhammad of the Nation of Islam; Pam Africa of MOVE; and Vivienne Crawford of the local National Action Network, the group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Alejandro Miyar, spokesman for the civil-rights division of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, said afterward that his office was aware of the local request. "We are reviewing it to determine whether to move ahead with an investigation," he said.

Meanwhile, the D.A.'s office again urged people to read the grand-jury report on its Web site.