Police Officer who Dragged Black Mother from car and Beat Her, gets off Scott-Free

Thera Martin theramartin10@gmail.com

Hold up, wait a minute. How in the world would a Philadelphia Judge find a former Philadelphia Police officer not guilty of beating a woman with his nightstick during the height of the act of civil disobedience in Philadelphia in October 2020? There’s video footage of the former police officer in question, then-Officer Darren Kardos, dragging the woman from her car and beating her, along with several other Philly cops. Mind you, the woman had her 2-year-old child in the vehicle at the time, so that baby had to witness all this craziness while his mother was being beat down.

Officer Darren Kardos was found not guilty on all charges in connection with the beating. This particular incident drew national attention and had all eyes on Philadelphia once again, and not in a positive way.

The 28-year-old mother, whom I will describe as the victim, was separated from her child for several hours immediately following the incident, bringing more trauma, I would imagine, to both Mom and baby.

The trial was a one-day bench trial, and at the end of the day, Municipal Court Judge Francis W. McCloskey Jr. found that there just was not enough evidence to do anything but let the officer off easy. Despite the fact that everything was videotaped, the incident, according to the Judge, was not specific or clear enough to prove that Officer Kardos did anything wrong.

According to the Judge, the video footage he saw shows a number of Philadelphia police officers involved in the situation with the young mother being beat down. No other officers were charged, and again, the Judge is saying that he could not see clearly that Officer Kardos was the officer who hit her in the face with a billystick.

The victim, Ms. Young, unfortunately, for whatever reasons, chose not to testify. I sure wish that she had. Because she did not testify, the Judge further used that as another reason why he made the judgment that he made in court on Monday.

Prosecutors involved with the case accused former Officer Kardos of “crossing the line.” When the police encountered Ms. Young on October 27, 2020, they were trying to get control of the area around 52nd and Chestnut Streets. Area residents who were upset about the murder of 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man who was having a mental health breakdown earlier in the day, started protests and demonstrations in West Philadelphia near where Walter Wallace lived. In the process of going through a mental breakdown, Walter Wallace lunged at the police after his family had called

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Chris Tuite/ImageSPACE/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images

Protestors demonstrate during the 'Justice For Walter Wallace Jr' event on October 31, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after the death of Walter Wallace Jr.

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the police for assistance. Somehow things went terribly wrong. Walter Wallace appeared to be prepared to attack police with a knife in his hand, and that was it. Police bullets started flying.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Barnett said, “That doesn’t justify the defendant going crazy on Young’s car,” which officers came across while it was not moving. Barnett said Young “did nothing to warrant being pulled from the vehicle — or beaten.”

If I were Miss Young, I don’t think I’d accept this verdict that was passed down on Monday, June 12, as the final decision. At least one or more than one Philadelphia Police Officer beat that young mother, and the public has seen those photos of her bloodied face as well as the video footage.

Now no police officers will be punished for what happened to her? This is not acceptable. We need the NAACP, the National Action Network, the Urban League, the Urban Coalition, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), and all other law-abiding citizens and people who stand for justice to speak up and speak out on this verdict. If this were your daughter and your grandchild who had gone through this, I think you’d want to keep fighting for justice.