Community groups demand investigation, transparency in recent arrests

DEVLON PRIDGEN’S FACE IS SHOWN& AFTER HE WAS ARRESTED ON THE NORTH SIDE, DEC. 29, 2024.& Black Political Empowerment Project Chairman and CEO Tim Stevens, NAACP Pittsburgh Branch President Daylon A. Davis and other community leaders are holding the City of Pittsburgh’s feet to the fire after a number of recent arrests of African Americans that they deemed excessive and possibly unlawful. The first arrest came on Dec. 29, 2024, when a Black man, Devlon Pridgen, was arrested on the North Side by Pittsburgh Police. A bystander video shown on local television outlets captured multiple police officers trying to apprehend Pridgen, with a woman screaming off-camera that Pridgen didn’t have any weapons on him. Pridgen suffered cuts to his face and photos have since surfaced of Pridgen’s face bloodied and bruised following the arrest. The second arrest came on Dec. 31, 2024, when a Black woman, Morgan Daniels, was arrested by Pittsburgh Police by being “forcibly removed from her home,” according to a joint statement by B-PEP, the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch and the Alliance for Police Accountability, Jan. 9. A video of the encounter, which has since been circulated on social media but not widely shown on local television, shows,...