By Phillip Lucas
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — An alleged criminal wearing a police uniform should be prosecuted the same way as one wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, lawyers and community activists said at a rally last night.
Demonstrators called for the District Attorney’s Office to pursue criminal charges against former police Sgt. Robert Ralston, who shot himself in the shoulder last April and lied to investigators, telling them that a black man with cornrow braids did it.
Ralston gave a statement to the District Attorney’s Office and was fired by the Police Department, but charges were never filed because Ralston’s statement cannot be used against him in court.
“Other than his statement, no sufficient evidence exists to charge him with false reports or any other crimes,” District Attorney Seth Williams said in a release. He added that he’s encouraged anyone with information on the incident to contact him.
Regardless, activists gathered in the shadow of City Hall yesterday said there is still enough circumstantial evidence to prosecute him.
Michael Coard, a lawyer who helped organize the rally, said Ralston’s wound, residue from the shot that was fired, a bullet lodged in his shoulder matching those loaded in his gun and suspicious circumstances around why the gun was fired are enough evidence to let a jury decide what, if any, legal penalties Ralston should face.
“If he lied about something like this, he could lie in police reports, he could lie in other arrest warrants, he could lie under oath,” Coard said.
Coard said Ralston’s lie, and the subsequent search for an imaginary suspect - in which the Fraternal Order of Police offered a $10,000 reward - put every black man in West Philadelphia in danger of being needlessly questioned by police. Ralston was a 21-year veteran of the Police Department. He was assigned to the 19th District, which covers areas of West Philadelphia.
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