Nearly 1,000 days in jail with no conviction

JOHN LEWIS figures it started with his name.

He has the same name as the baby-faced armed robber convicted of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy in 2007.

So, when Lewis gave Officer Edward Sawicki III his name during a routine car stop in North Philadelphia on Jan. 31, 2012, Sawicki scowled.

"Oh, so you want to be an assh---?" Sawicki yelled, according to Lewis, as he yanked him from the car.

The next 10 minutes were a bloody blur: Lewis said that Sawicki and another officer beat him with their fists and batons until Sawicki ordered a third officer to fire up her Taser.

Lewis, 39, a convicted robber who'd felt the sting of a stun gun before, panicked, broke free and ran. The cops took off after him, and the chase ended only after an officer ran him over with her cruiser, crushing his pelvis, vertebrae and wrist, and lacerating his kidney.

Nearly three years later, Lewis still has trouble walking.

He's also still in jail.

On that cold, violent night, Lewis was arrested for assaulting the cops and stealing Sawicki's baton. The three officers accused Lewis of starting the violence by reaching for a weapon and going for Sawicki's gun during the brawl.

Lewis has steadfastly maintained his innocence. He's been behind bars for nearly three years awaiting trial, rejecting a plea offer that would have freed him already.

"I would never stoop that low to plead to something that I did not do," Lewis said in a letter to the Daily News from the State Correctional Facility at Waymart, where he is awaiting a Nov. 12 trial. "Those officers most definitely broke some of my bones. However, they didn't break my spirit."

A prison inmate who denies his guilt is nothing new.

But the details of Lewis' case raise concerns about the officers' credibility - and his continued prosecution.

Two of the three cops involved with his arrest have since been arrested themselves for unrelated offenses. One has a history of excessive-force complaints. Two have been named in brutality lawsuits. Two also have been sued for car mishaps resulting in injury.

Kelly Robbins, the officer behind the wheel of the cruiser that ran over Lewis, was cited by Internal Affairs investigators for failing to report the collision. She later told investigators that she didn't report it because Lewis flung himself into her parked car - even though medical experts said that his injuries indicated he "was severely struck by [a car] that was moving." Robbins could not be reached for comment.

Lewis' lengthy incarceration - he's been jailed nearly 1,000 days, even though a judge in June 2012 dismissed the two most serious charges against him - also raises questions for some criminal-justice crusaders.

"It is certainly unusual for a case to remain in pretrial status for nearly three years," said Bradley Bridge of the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania has a speedy-trial rule that requires defendants to have a trial within a year after their arrest, unless the defense attorney requests additional time.

Court records suggest that delays in Lewis' case were partially driven by things like attorney changes and the system's occasional failure to deliver him to court. Mary Maran, the most recent defense attorney listed for him, couldn't be reached for comment.

But Lewis has a different theory.

"COP stands for 'Corrupt Organized Police,' " he said. "The main job of the system and the city of Philadelphia is to 'protect and serve' the credibility of their police officers."

Lewis also believes that he's being "penalized" for suing the city, Sawicki and Robbins last January in Common Pleas Court for negligence. He's seeking at least $50,000 for his injuries. Dennis A. Pomo, his attorney in that case, declined to comment.

Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said in an email: "This defendant was arrested and charged based on substantial evidence in this case, and a judge ruled that there was evidence to proceed to trial. . . . It is now up to a jury of his peers to decide his fate.

"If this defendant believes that there are issues with this case or his incarceration it is up to his attorney to bring those matters to the court."

The night Lewis' ordeal began, he said, he was sitting in his cousin's Cadillac parked on Sheridan Street near Clearfield, listening to music and texting his wife while his cousin ran into the corner store for cigarettes.

Sawicki and Robbins approached. Later, they would testify that the Cadillac drew their attention because it illegally blocked a fire hydrant, and as they approached, they smelled the drug PCP coming from the car.

Some details Lewis and the cops agree on: After checking his cousin's identification, the officers approached Lewis and asked for his name and ID.

Then their stories diverge.

Lewis claims he gave Sawicki his name (eliciting the aforementioned scowl) and reached for his identification - prompting Sawicki to shout: "He's got something!" The beating, chase and broken bones followed.

Sawicki and Robbins, though, say Lewis refused to give his ID and began to fight them. Pennsylvania law does not require citizens to identify themselves to police or surrender their IDs, unless police have a "reasonable suspicion of illegal activity."

Later, Sawicki and Robbins told investigators that during their brawl, Lewis showed "superhuman strength" and didn't react when Robbins tased him. Both are characteristics of PCP use. But, it turns out, Robbins' Taser never fired.

And at the hospital, drug tests showed Lewis had no PCP - or anything else - in his system, according to medical and police reports.

Further, police found no weapons on Lewis or in the Cadillac.

Long before he met Lewis, Sawicki, 34, had racked up brutality complaints in his nine years on the police force.

In March 2010, a Juniata Park teen filed a complaint with Internal Affairs accusing Sawicki and another cop of stopping him on his way home to ask if he sold drugs. When he told them no, he lived nearby, one pushed his head into the hood of a car while the other told him they'd be "collecting his body parts" if he didn't comply, the teen reported. When the officers found no drugs on him, the teen said, they told him "to get his black ass out of there fast" and they'd beat him with their flashlights if he returned.

Another drug investigation a week before Lewis' arrest prompted a similar civilian complaint. In that case, a 30-year-old Delaware County man complained that Sawicki repeatedly punched him in the head and ribs "like boxing" after Sawicki and his partner discovered the man had heroin packets. The man told police that his assault ended only after Sawicki's partner told him, "Dude, chill out; there's people looking."

Internal Affairs investigators did not sustain either complaint. Still, investigators noted that the officers involved with the 2010 complaint failed to file paperwork required after a vehicle or pedestrian stop - and even denied that they stopped the teen for questioning, despite in-cruiser computers showing they ran his criminal record.

Last November, Sawicki and Robbins were named as defendants in a brutality lawsuit by Darren Tramell, who claimed that the pair were part of a group of cops who beat, kicked, tased and hit him with a police car and planted drugs on him when they found he had none. Tramell had broken bones and needed stitches.

An Oct. 20, 2013, off-duty incident in South Philly eventually led to Sawicki's firing in April. In that incident he was arrested for allegedly backing his car into a pedestrian and then yelling racial slurs, flashing his gun and threatening to kill him. A Nov. 18 preliminary hearing is scheduled.

Attorney William J. Brennan, who represents Sawicki, denied that the officer's troubles suggest credibility problems.

"Officer Edward Sawicki is a decorated military veteran, a terrific police officer and an all-around solid guy," Brennan said. "When you're an officer on a busy force like the Philadelphia Police Department for a long time, it's not uncommon to have an occasional complaint raised. He's out on the front lines."

As for Robert Filler, the other officer who Lewis said beat him, he was arrested in January for drunken driving. Court records show that his driver's license was suspended and he was approved for a diversionary program. Filler is no longer a cop but a civilian employee.

Lewis still sometimes uses a wheelchair or crutches to get around.

"Being in prison, I don't have the pleasure to receive medical treatment or physical therapy," Lewis said.

At the time of his arrest, Lewis was working in construction and going to school at the Thompson Institute to become an electrical technician.

Without his support, his wife, Natasha Stewart, said, life has been hard, especially for their son Jahkai, 5, and other children in their blended family.

"At one point, I was second-guessing him. Why would somebody choose to sit in jail?" Stewart said of Lewis' refusal to take a plea deal. "But then he started sending me the paperwork on his case, and I understood.

"This is so draining; it takes a lot out of the children, because they miss their dad. All I can do is love him more and pray that this ends fast."