Pittsburgh wants to pay $75K in teen-beating claim

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh City Council is mulling a bill to pay a former performing arts student who claims he was wrongly beaten by three undercover officers $75,000 to settle his federal civil rights claim against the city only.

The attorney for Jordan Miles, who is now 20, did not immediately return a call on the bill reported today by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Miles was an 18-year-old violist at the city’s performing arts high school when he was arrested and beaten on Jan. 12, 2010. A judge threw out resisting-arrest charges against Miles who says he thought the plainclothes officers didn’t identify themselves and meant him harm.

The officers have claimed they thought Miles was trespassing and mistook his soda bottle for a gun. Miles claims he didn’t even have the bottle and was accosted for being young and black in a high-crime area.