Forward

The second worst thing that could have happened in the world on the morning of December 21,1998 was the death of Deron Steven Grimmitt.

The worst thing would have been my death. Here is the story.

 A long deep breath escaped from my lungs as if I had been trapped in my own coffin for just over a year. Immediately followed by the “Not Guilty” verdict being read was the realization that I was alive and had been given back my life. Accompanied by a profound clarity of insight came the light in my mind that illuminated the actual events, true political motives, and some of the underlying reasons for what had occurred. 

This book will attempt to explain the actions that were taken and decisions that were made by a morally bankrupt group of public employees that had resulted in an honest cop being put on trial for his life. This book will be an attempt to make sense out of total political insanity.

Turning back the clock to the spring of 1997, I was an average police officer whose largest assets to the job were officer safety, street experience and the ability to deal fairly with all individuals in Pittsburgh's diverse Hill District neighborhoods. Other then that, work was pretty much a non-event. 

During this time in Pittsburgh, the new administration, under Chief Robert McNeilly Jr., was desperate to meet the mandates of the recently signed Justice Department Consent Decree. Unknown to the officers who previously had supported McNeilly’s promotion to chief, McNeilly along with the mayor had penned a secretive deal to turn over control of the police department to the United States Justice Department. This according to McNeilly was done in order to obtain a more favorable position in several civil law suits that had been filed by the ACLU against the city.

Some have said that the deal was brokered in exchange for promises of lucrative future employment opportunities. Others have said it was forced upon the mayor in lieu of being indicted for receiving questionable campaign contributions. Either way it was viewed as bad for the police and good for the criminals. At the time, I did not know how true this was. Now I do.

Other police officers and myself found a large amount of humor in the hypocritical actions of this new administration that had displayed no honest intentions, no integrity, and no concern for the welfare of the officers. Outside, by the bench behind Zone two, laughter was what we used to stay sane.

Chief Robert McNeilly had been made fun of. This particular troubled individual was now obsessed with identifying an anonymous Internet writer who tugged on the ego strings of a man who had become an insecure power puppet.

Officers with any common sense would just come to work, put in their time and go home safe to the family after the shift. Other officers chose to write about law enforcement issues on computers and e-mail it to a couple of friends. It seemed like harmless fun, or so it was thought.

Chief Robert McNeilly Jr. chose to publicly confront the Internet cartoon character that had been created and make it infamous. 

It is necessary to include the writings of the Blue Knight in this book for perusal. The most profound revelation will not be what is found in the editorials, but what you will never find.

RACIAL ANIMUS or STATE OF MIND.

Only then do the true motives for the actions taken by Police Chief Robert McNeilly Jr., Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht, and District Attorney Steven Zapalla become increasingly clear and in some small cases understandable. I said understandable, not condoned. The veracity and underlying intent of their public statements will also come under profuse scrutiny.

This group of Pittsburgh politicians had long ago been making morally and legally questionable decisions based on the “one hand washes the other” and “ good old boy” credo of many decades. Nepotism and payoffs in Pittsburgh had turned from an old tradition into a way of life.

 This case had an added perk; they could kill off The Blue Knight and destroy the credibility of the words that had been written because when examined, some of the editorials hit the nail on the head.  At the same time, they would be rid of a thorn in their side, and suspected author of the Blue Knight Internet editorials, and union activist, Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein. For these thugs, it was a win/win situation.

The tragic incident of December 21, 1998 and subsequent events had exacted an unmitigated toll on all that had been involved.

The story had to be told and it had to be told in a manner that would explain to some, verify for others, vindicate for one, and become a lesson for police officers that were arrogant and egotistical enough to believe that “it could not happen to them”. 

The story had to be told, in order to provide evidence that no shot was fired as the suspect passed by and this had been fabricated to push forward a politically advantageous prosecution.. Evidence will clearly show that there never was any racial motive,

Unfortunately, these officers were never going to learn anything. They would continue to welcome Assistant District Attorney Edward Borkowski into their open arms, despite the fact he tried to take the life of one of their own.

 To those individuals who were cowards, you will always be cowards.  

Maybe Jeffrey Cooperstein was The Pittsburgh Police Blue Knight.....

SO WHAT!

In the end, it was about Right and Wrong. It was about the individuals who displayed true character and courage…  and thank God, the jury saw it. 

 In a best-case scenario, the administrators and politicians involved in the Cooperstein case are guilty of prosecutorial misconduct, extreme ignorance, and a complete misuse and abuse of the powers and authority entrusted to them.

People will be able to draw conclusions from the documented facts this time around. This will come without ever having seen Police Chief Robert McNeilly Jr. and Deputy Chief Charlie Moffat giggling and laughing in the back row at the coroner’s inquest. They had really pulled one over on the public this time around.

In a worst case, federal indictments in relation to the criminal acts committed by these individuals would be soon to follow.

It would not be a slanted piece of media copy, nor would it take on the perverse spin of the special interest groups, police administrators or local politicians. It would just be the truth.

  with that the story took on a life of it’s own.

And the rest is history............

Jeffrey Cooperstein

To Thy Own self be True And The Rest Is Silence........William Shakespeare

INTRODUCTION

  On December 21, 1998, at approximately 3:30 in the morning Pittsburgh Police Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein responded to the perimeter area of a high-speed police pursuit now in progress inbound on 2nd Avenue. Sgt. Andy Lisiecki had observed two black males in a blue 1994 Chrysler New Yorker slow down while proceeding past several Zone six officers engaged in an investigatory pat down of several drug suspects. Sgt. Lisiecki fearing that the individuals in the vehicle might be attempting to do a drive-by on the officers initiated an attempt to pull the individuals in the blue vehicle over.

  Deron Grimmitt and his brother Curtis had spent the evening dropping off crack cocaine to the low level street dealers in the uptown section of Pittsburgh. With over four hundred dollars of crack cocaine bagged in small bundles for delivery inside the vehicle, and nearly one thousand dollars in cash lining their pockets, they were not about to stop. Deron was out on probation and Curtis was due in court that morning to face sentencing on a previous drug sale conviction. The stakes were high.

 With one press of the accelerator in their dark blue Chrysler and a verbal pact between them, these two career criminals had set the wheels of administrative and political corruption in motion. They did not have a clue. To the Grimmitt brothers, it was about not getting caught. To Chief McNeilly, it was about revenge.

  Officer Cooperstein had just placed his patrol vehicle in park, overhead lights on, facing outbound on Second Avenue. He was parallel to the centerline, in the outbound passing lane and had just stepped out of his vehicle into the brisk night air.

Unaware that in less then five seconds he would be forced to make critical judgments and a split second decision that would become expensive for all involved. He was just doing his job. The Officer did not have a clue. To Officer Cooperstein, it was about staying alive. To Chief McNeilly, it was about revenge.

  This is the true story about cops who were brave and stood tall under unyielding administrative pressure and the cops who were cowards. To the cops who were cowards, it was about keeping their jobs. To Chief McNeilly it was about revenge.

To the cops who were brave, it was about integrity. To Chief McNeilly, it was about revenge.

The true story of special interest groups blinded by racially motivated agendas and determined to have a white police officer pay for historical past wrongs. To special interests, it was a misguided quest for reparations. To Chief McNeilly, it was about revenge.

 The true story of misguided, spineless, police administrators fearfully following their leader and kowtowing to morally bankrupt politicians.  They all had different, but specific hidden self-servings agendas. The power they possessed. 

   It was easy for the misinformed in the public to arrive at erroneous conclusions based on the local tabloid slant or the all to evident political spin. In fact, for the media, it was the desired effect and for the politicians, it was the intended result.

 An Afro-American Felon attempting to elude the police,

A vindictive Chief of Police out for revenge,

A District Attorney and County Coroner placating the minority special interests

A White Police Officer trying to stay alive,  

and the anonymous Internet author who had made fun of them all..........

This book will make license of a literary single stroke brush to correctly place the entire blame for the tragic events of December 21,1998 on the shoulders of one individual. Without the criminal actions of Deron Steven Grimmitt, there would be no story and no blame to place.

A broad brush will then be used to assign some degree of accountability to a specific group of individuals whose questionable politically motivated actions and morally challenged decisions led to an obscene abuse of the criminal justice system.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Jeffrey Cooperstein

The complete story strives to explain how the emotional, psychological, economical and sociological bill for this political travesty was paid; but

AT WHAT COST.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife Marla,

My extraordinary son Joel,

And Pittsburgh Police Officers

Kimberly Stanley, Robert Zollars and Joe Reiff.

To my brother Gary, his wife Gail 

and The Legal Dream Team

This is for you…………..

I would not have made it without you

I Love You all…….Jeffrey Cooperstein

To Robert "Harry" Schilt,

This book may help to explain why I could not be there for you and for this I am sorry. Though it is fact that cancer destroyed your body, I know for sure it will never defeat your spirit. Your spirit lives on in those of us who were lucky enough to have shared some part of your life.

Love Forever;   "BEAR"

“The Other Side Of The Coin”

Fifteen year old Joel Cooperstein slowly kneeled next to his father's name on the Law Enforcement Memorial Wall in Washington DC and took a letter sized piece of paper out of his backpack. The young teen then, while wiping the tears away from his eyes, traced his dad's name onto the blank sheet of paper as he had seen other dead cop's children do. Joel quietly placed his father's favorite stuffed talking Eric Cartman doll at the foot of the memorial wall.  No good mojo hear he told the silly doll, and then walked away. 

December 21st, 1998, Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein was struck and killed by a still unknown assailant fleeing police during a chase.

Joel remembered standing in silence at the funeral next to his mom, Marla, Kim Stanley, Robert Zollars and Joe Rieff while his father's old partner Jimmy Trimbur spoke the eulogy. Officer Trimbur who had quickly shed twelve pounds to fit into his dress blue uniform spoke of Coop's strange wit and unending cynicism.

Cyril Wecht, the famous Allegheny Coroner stated in his "thorough" report that Officer Cooperstein had succumb to massive internal injuries. A ruptured spleen, collapsed lung, a fracture of C-2 and massive internal bleeding were listed on the report in addition to the fractured skull and subdural hematoma. The Coroner listed the cause of death as "Criminal Homicide". The manner of death was listed as "high speed impact with an automobile".

In spite of the fact that Sgt. Lisiecki had gotten the license plate number and tentatively picked Deron Grimmitt out of a police lineup, District Attorney Steven Zappalla stated that placing the driver behind the wheel at the time of the incident would be difficult and chose not to prosecute.

The District Attorney knew that there would be nothing to gain in an election year by placing a black man on trial for running down and killing a white cop. 

“Jeff! Jeff! Wake up” his wife pleaded. “Honey, it’s just a nightmare” she spoke and gently patted her husband’s head as he fell back asleep.

Marla reluctantly used the new pillowcase to dry the tears that had welled up in her eyes, and silently prayed for help to make it through this reality, which was the true nightmare from which one cannot awake.

CHAPTER ONE

"You can judge the stature of a man by the power of his enemies"

Joel

At first glance, the young man in the front row decked out in Dockers, dress shirt and tie, could have been anyone who had at the spur of the moment decided to observe Pittsburgh’s present day courtroom spectacle. The current witch hunt trial of a white cop, the results of a vendetta sought by a psychologically troubled Police Chief and a young ambitious "rookie" District Attorney both whose political goals far outweighed any trace of integrity they may have possessed at one time. A cop on trial for his life.

Vying for a better look at the young man, one would never be able to discern that from the serious look on his face, a day earlier he had just celebrated his seventeenth birthday and in a perfect world, his mind should have been caught up in a whirlwind of adolescent fantasy and youthful exuberance.

But the innocence had been stolen, the exuberance executed long before it's time by those in power in the City of Steel...Those his father had exposed, put under scrutiny and had attempted to make accountable for their actions. Action his father had told him would cost a young cop their life. Joined in the effort by special interest groups thirsty for the blood of a white cop in the wake of the Gammage case, the elements of a political tragedy were in place and now had reached critical mass.

As Joel Cooperstein sat quietly, professionally, and heartbroken, he watched as his father, his friend, his confidant and teacher sat slowly down at the defense table along side his team of lawyers. His dad, Pittsburgh Police Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein was on trial for life.

 It is Three AM in Pittsburgh: 

Do you know where your children are?

It was a little after One AM in Denver Colorado, Joel Cooperstein, 15 years of age was sound asleep, in his bed, getting the necessary rest required to continue obtaining A’s in High School. His father had explained to him that at this juncture of his life school was his job. Achieve good grades, obey the law, do the next right thing. Don’t sweat the small stuff and make a future for yourself. It was just after Three AM in Pittsburgh.

Joel Cooperstein was not now and had never been fleeing from the police and endangering innocent lives. It was a fact of life that Joel had made less in an entire month working at Best Buy then was recovered from the pockets of the unemployed Grimmitt brothers on the morning of December 21,1998. Joel Cooperstein did not own a cell phone and most certainly had not phoned home for legal advice during the commission of a crime. At Three O'clock in the morning, Joel Cooperstein's parents knew exactly where he could be found.

The portrait of an individual, who had been brought up by responsible, law abiding, tax paying, employed parents would never be painted by the media. It would be totally out of place on the very marketable canvas of hate, race baiting, excuses, and justification that was now a common event in the media/tabloids of present day America.

 Joel Cooperstein had never been in trouble with any Law Enforcement agency. He had his life together. This young law abiding citizen’s only similarity to the Grimmitt brothers was that Joel Elliot Cooperstein, now 16 years of age, had become a victim of the system. The glaring difference was that Joel Cooperstein had become a victim of the system through no actions of his own. A system that was clearly prejudiced against his father because of the color of his skin. WHITE!

On the morning of December 21,1998, Joel Cooperstein was at home, asleep in his bed, preparing for another day of school in order to become a productive member of society; and he had not broken a single law and had not sold a single illegal drug. He could not qualify for the dubious distinction of being this year’s special interest group hero and elevated to the stature of this years law breaking martyr. There would be no candlelight vigils to support young Joel Cooperstein and no all-inclusive trips to meet the President of the United States.

The true human factors and real personal tragedies historically associated with the collateral damage of a powerful politician’s irresponsible actions are usually well concealed and covered up. This case is no different. The hurt placed upon the honest, law-abiding individuals in this case were of no consequence to those in the District Attorney’s office. This pain most certainly was of no consequence to the local media.

Unfortunate and tragic as it was, Deron Steven Grimmitt lived by the sword and died by the sword. This is not a new concept.

Deputy Chief Charlie Moffat was observed on television embracing the mother of Deron Grimmitt, but he never once even called Joel Cooperstein. It was not politically advantageous to check on the son of a police officer who had almost lost his life. It was most assuredly not the case when Chief Robert McNeilly Jr. hated the officer involved.

"Her Eyes were the windows to his soul"

Marla

The realization was not long in coming. How to make it work successfully took "just a bit longer". At first sight coop knew he was in trouble, her beauty was riveting and her eyes, yes those eyes, could freeze a man in his tracks. Her name was Marla and the very sight of her evokes emotions and passion from deep within. Coop's endless dreams of fantasy, fable and romantic endings had taken a firm hold on his heart and soul. "Just a bit longer" would turn into two weddings over the course of eleven years.

As the trial approached, the once again newlyweds, attempted in vain at a romantic candlelight dinner, followed by a movie in the shelter of their Florida home. Marla could read into her husband's heart as she slowly wiped a single tear from his eye. This frightening, heart wrenching reality was that this could be the last time they made love for the rest of their lives

It is Three AM in Florida: 

It was a little after Three AM in Pompano Beach, Florida, Marla Penner, was sound asleep, in her bed, getting the necessary rest required to continue competing and producing in the highly competitive real estate world. It was just after Three AM in Pittsburgh.

On the morning of December 21,1998, Marla Penner was at home, asleep in her bed, preparing for another day of work in order to pay her bills and plan a future. She was a productive member of society; and she had not broken a single law and had not sold a single illegal drug. She could not qualify for the dubious distinction of being this year’s special interest group hero and elevated to the stature of this years law breaking martyr. There would be no candlelight vigils to support Marla Penner and no all-inclusive trips to meet the President of the United States.

Marla Penner had never been in trouble with any Law Enforcement agency. She had her life together. This law abiding citizen’s only similarity to the Grimmitt brothers was that Marla Penner, just by her love for Jeffrey Cooperstein had become a victim of the system. Unlike the Grimmitt brothers, Marla Penner had become a victim of the system through no actions of her own. A system that was clearly prejudiced against the man she was in love with because of the color of his skin. WHITE!

Deputy Chief Charlie Moffat was on television embracing the mother of Deron Grimmitt, but had absolutely no idea that Marla even existed. Even if he had known, it would have been of no significance. Deputy Chief of Police Charles Moffat was an ugly man, and the ugly went deep to the core. In Pittsburgh, he fit perfectly into the scheme of things.

“KIMMY”

If you opened a copy of Webster’s dictionary and proceeded to search for an adequate and accurate definition of friendship and loyalty, put the book down and look no further. To do the reference any justice the definition would begin with Pittsburgh Police Officer Kimberly Stanley.

Kim “Kimmy” Stanley was the sitting matriarch of relationship dysfunction. After wasting a year of her life attempting to have a future with a newly divorced man who was still in love with his ex-wife, a bell went off in her head. “Chasing this emotionally unavailable bozo for even a moment longer is a waste of my time and not good for my self-esteem”.

A lasting friendship was born that had no equal and was beyond any understandable definition. Take the sex aspect away from men and women and it is truly amazing what can occur. For most males of the species, this process of thinking above the waist takes a lifetime and then some. Jeffrey Cooperstein was no exception. He was just a man.

December 21,1998  0410

 Officer Kim Stanley

It was the end of December just before Christmas.  I was working night turn that year but on that particular night, I had been released early.   I was sitting on my bed painting my fingernails when the phone rang. 

The caller ID said “Allegheny General Hospital” so I assumed Jeff was the report car on an accident or an assault.  When the voice on the other end said, “Kim, this is Rich from Zone 2”, I was confused until he clarified “you know...Richie Diamond”.   He continued on, “Jeff asked me to call you.  He’s OK but there was an incident.  A chase.  Some shots were fired.  He’s not hurt but he’s in AGH’s ER and he’s asking for you”.

 I can’t tell you how many scenarios went through my mind in the course of 10 seconds....(he’s just trying to keep me calm, Jeff’s been shot;  Jeff’s dead; Jeff’s been beaten senseless; Jeff fired the shots)  there were so many thoughts but one above all: Richie’s being evasive.   I interrogated him with a series of rapid fire questions:  What happened? -”We don’t have all the details yet”;  are you sure he’s OK? - “yeah he’s just really shaken up”;

 Did he shoot someone? –

“We have no confirmation of that”;

 Is the other guy dead? - -

“We have no confirmation of that.”

  The drive to Allegheny General is only fifteen minutes in the worst traffic.  At 4:30 in the morning it couldn’t possibly take more than five minutes but this time it felt like forever.  Every possible scenario ran through my head but the one that prevailed was the one question Richie refused to answer: 

  Jeff had been in some sort of confrontation and the bad guy was either badly hurt or missing (its not uncommon in Pittsburgh’s inner city neighborhoods for a shooting victim to get in a car and drive away). 

I can’t tell you the level of my relief when I walked through the ER doors and saw Jeff standing in the triage room.....standing, not on a stretcher and in the triage room, not in the back connected to tubes and monitors.   Then (and only then) did I know for sure that he was truly alright.  Don’t get me wrong, He looked like shit, but there was no obvious injury like blood or broken bones.

  He looked more frightened and childlike than I had ever seen him (and believe me I had seen him act like a baby before). He was pale, sweating and his eyes....well they looked like a five year old just awakened from the worst nightmare imaginable.  I took his hand, and it was trembling.

  Somewhere in my brain a switch flipped on at that point and I’m not sure I’ve been able to completely turn it off to this day.  A feeling of being besieged took over which was so intense that I felt both stronger than I ever had before (like it was up to me to take complete control from here on) and more vulnerable than I had ever been (like everyone was the enemy).  I knew then without being told that Jeff had shot someone.  The details were unimportant right now and I knew that I couldn’t, and mustn’t, ask anything in front on anyone who could be asked to repeat what he said later.  Jeff opened his mouth and started to say,

  “He was driving so...”   I cut him off, “Not another word. Not here. Not until we’re alone”.

  Over the years of my multi-faceted friendship with Jeff, I had felt many things but in charge was never one of them.  I had always looked to him for guidance, advice and protection.

  I’m sure by this point in the book Jeff has explained the unpopular role he held with the department’s hierarchy and regaled you with tales of his razor sharp wit and stinging yet oh-so-clever jabs at political corruption within our own ranks.

 What I’m sure he hasn’t told you is that, whether I was his accomplice or not (a secret I shall take to my grave, sorry folks) I have always been seen as culpable in the eyes of the department.  Everyone saw me as the sidekick to the sometimes hated, sometimes revered Blue Knight. 

  Once he was taken into the examining room and we were alone, the story spilled out of him;

  “Andy had a chase going.  I parked the car on second avenue cause I knew they’d never come into downtown and I could keep traffic from heading toward the chase.  But he came into downtown.  He came right down the center of the road and he accelerated toward me when he saw me.  All I thought was,

 ‘Oh fuck this is really gonna hurt.  I shot at him.

 Four times.  I thought I missed.  I flinched and braced for the impact”.

  “ But then he just went by, close enough that I could have touched him.  God, Kimmy, Joel’s coming in less than a week and he almost came for my funeral instead of for Christmas.” 

When I stepped into the hallway, Richie was standing nearby.  I asked him quietly,

“Rich, you know the bosses hate him.  Is there anyway anyone could possibly think this wasn’t a good shoot?”

 His answer was without hesitation:

COOP  

"Character and integrity are best seen when no one is watching"

There was no middle ground with Jeff Cooperstein. A large man, with a cynical attitude and caustic wit that could bite deep, you either loved him or hated him. A person never had to guess where he stood in the scheme of things with Coop. If he liked what you were doing he would let you know. If Jeff Cooperstein thought what you were doing was wrong or inappropriate you would not have to guess his opinion. Without any solicitation, you got it.

When everyone knew my identity I more than tried to do the right thing, and you weren't listening.  You're listening now, aren't you Chief?  With absolutely no legally obtained evidence, or crime being committed, you are questioning individuals that you believe have knowledge of the Blue Knight. ............From Knightstalker...  

The Blue Knight

No one in retrospect, including Jeffrey Cooperstein, would say it was an intelligent thing to play devil’s advocate to Chief McNeilly’s draconian management style. Then again no one living in the United States would ever believe it would be used by a District Attorney in a headlines chasing attempt to show some degree of racial animus or specific intent where there obviously was none.  At most it would bring a disciplinary action at one’s place of employment. When that ploy failed the DA chose to manufacture the element  “state of mind of the author" in order to pursue this political prosecution rather then come forward and admit the case was bogus. Politics in the steel city had become a dirty game. The First Amendment was now skating on thin ice and the temperature was rising.

The Supreme Court had previously ruled this brand of free speech was not admissible in a prosecution’s case in chief, but daddy Zappalla sat on the Supreme Court and his pride and joy was leading this particular lynch mob. District Attorney Seven Zapalla had forgotten any form of judicial ethics. It is clearly unethical and morally questionable to pursue a prosecution that you know has no chance of returning a guilty verdict just to appease the screaming mob and secure one’s re-election.

In addition to being the presiding judge, Judge David Circone had been appointed to the position of lead judge by the District Attorney’s father. Rounding out the political chess pieces was the law clerk who was researching and preparing these legally questionable judicial decisions and coincidently was the son of a now imprisoned reputed mafia crime boss Chuck Porter senior.

Home for Christmas -- Charles "Chucky" Porter, the highest-ranking member of the Pittsburgh Mafia ever to turn government informant, will be home for the holidays as a federal judge orders him released from prison in recognition for the former mob underboss' cooperation….Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Let us review. A mayor that had been suspected of receiving mob tainted campaign contributions. A ”rookie” district attorney who had never tried a criminal case. A lead judge who had been appointed to his position by the father of the District Attorney, and the mafia sibling writing the judicial decisions. When an outside observer took the time to connect the dots, the judicial process in Pittsburgh was not passing the smell test.

Therefore, the rules of prosecutorial engagement had changed and nobody was minding the integrity store. It had now become fact that The Pittsburgh Police Blue Knight was going to stand trial along side Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein.  

CHAPTER TWO

“The Only Color Here Is Blue”

The Blue Knight web site editorials had begun to surface in the summer of 1997 and had been described by many as informative, poignant, revealing and humorous. Wrought with crude diatribes aimed at administrative members and lawless members of society, popularity among street officers was quick in coming.

 Acquiring a precise target acquisition towards a command staff, whose actions were morally questionable, dangerous to officers and ripe with hidden self-serving agenda, The Blue Knight and by extension Jeffrey Cooperstein, had made enemies of a powerful nature. Individuals who truly believed they were above the law. At the very least, they truly thought the system was theirs to manipulate for personal revenge. 

Coop was opinionated, self confident and stubborn. It would not be the first time that this individual's big mouth and off beat sense of humor landed him in the hot seat. Not very bright for an intelligent man.

Jeff continued to tease the rabid dog.

Here's how The Blue Knight threw down the gauntlet weeks ago,

"Hey look ace, you can't beat me, you can't kill me, let's just say you're sh*t... out of luck and you are going to have to live with it because The KNIGHT is here to stay," the author wrote.  The Blue Knight

  At the time, it would have been impossible to anticipate or predict that every single individual that The Blue Knight had criticized and poked fun at would now become integral pieces in the decision making puzzle soon to be spread out across the political table.

Let us face facts. Even though the editorials voiced timely complaints about the lack of officer safety training, and questioned the location of misappropriated grant funds, the writings did in essence humiliate certain individuals who had extremely inflated political egos. To the individual writing the editorials, it was fun. It was bringing attention to police issues that no one in the public had been made aware of until now. It was venting frustration in a manner that was not harming anyone. It was something for the troops to laugh at. When was the last time anyone died of embarrassment?

The events on Second Avenue, the death of an African American suspect, and the tenuous racial relations of the time served up a platter of “ Kick Cooperstein’s ass” soufflé and presented a unique opportunity to obtain some payback. The Special Interest groups wanted their pound of white flesh. The District Attorney and the County Coroner wanted the power and fiscal amenities that accompanied a successful campaign..

 Chief McNeilly wanted revenge.

December 21, 1998  approx. 0330

" In a New York Minute"

Coop stepped out of his patrol vehicle on Second Avenue. This is perfect, far enough away not to get involved and close enough if Sgt. Lisiecki needed help. This would be Perfect position to display high visibility in order to keep the drunks leaving the bars from cruising out into the pursuit area from Ross Street.  Almost three full lanes clear if the morons want to drive past. The suspects would not be stupid enough to take the pursuit into downtown. Perfect.

Then he heard the voice. No, not the go read the paper, grab a Primanti Brother's steak and cheese, be anywhere but here kinda voice, it was the familiar voice of Patrol Officer Richard Diamond 

"They are passing the county jail".

Five Hundred feet, four seconds, 110 feet per second.

The fleeing dark sedan appeared out from behind an unidentified civilian vehicle that had pulled over and slowed to a near stop in the right lane. The suspect vehicle now straddled the centerline and was coming at him. They were flying. Coop thought, "Oh isn't this fuckin great". Come on, slow down, move over, go away, give up, anything but this. The headlights bounced up in the air as the suspect vehicle accelerated toward him.

"I'm fucked". 

Urey Patrick- FBI…Use of force Expert and Instructor

"Patrolman Cooperstein was not bound, legally or morally, to wait and see if the Grimmitt vehicle would strike him or just miss him, or make a squealing emergency stop just short of him. The total sequence of events heading up to this point would have made it clear that the driver of the Fleeing vehicle had no intention of stopping voluntarily.

Nor was Patrolman Cooperstein obligated to run, hide, shirk his duty, or merely stand passively and let the Grimmitt vehicle continue unimpeded as it sped dangerously through the community at large. The Grimmitt vehicle posed a real threat to his life and safety even if it were not aimed directly at him from start to finish.

A slight side swerve in passing would   have seriously injured Patrolman Cooperstein. A simple miscalculation of speed, distance and road conditions by Deron Grimmitt would generate a driving error sufficient to cause a catastrophic collision with patrolman Cooperstein, and Deron Grimmitt had committed a number of such driving errors throughout the pursuit".                     

  In a span of four seconds, with a desperate fleeing Deron Grimmitt bearing down on him at 75mph, Pittsburgh Police Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein reacted as trained and chose to not trust his life to the good nature, and judgment of a dangerous fleeing criminal.

  All evidence, testimony and statements show that Officer Cooperstein was a decent, law abiding, productive member of society, doing his job and protecting innocent lives, including his own. He just happens to be an opinionated white, Jewish police officer suspected of writing “The Blue Knight” editorials, and in Pittsburgh, in the wake of  Johnny Gammage, that was his crime.  

Memo to Sgt. Liseicki from Robert McNeilly Jr.after Cooperstein incident 1998

"When most other people were running for cover, our officers ran towards the danger so they could stop the threat," McNeilly said. "It does show uncommon courage to head into the face of danger."

"I think they did distinguish themselves by putting themselves in the face of danger to prevent anyone else from being hurt," McNeilly said.

McNeilly in the news after strip district incident in 2000

Promises Made….Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein

To a police officer, the primary goal is to go home safely at the end of each shift. This goal extends to include the desire that the police officer himself arrive home safely and that he has not had to injure anyone resisting arrest during the course of his duties. Sometimes this is not possible. 

Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein promised his young son that he would come home every morning. Deron Grimmitt took him up on that promise.

The reality of a police officer's thought process is in direct contrast to the fractured fairy tale that the Allegheny County District Attorney was feeding to the public and worse, the members of the jury. Police Officer's do not lay in wait for suspects nor do they sit around making plans about how to infringe on the next criminal actor's constitutional rights. It is very unlikely that an anonymous police editorial writer on the Internet is sharpening up his "state of mind" skills in anticipation of one day going out and having to survive a critical encounter with a dangerous suspect. They go out every day and do their job. 

As a parent the responsibility and caring never stops. Coop amazed himself sometimes when he would sneak into his son's bedroom, late at night just to insure that he was still breathing. Even though the chances of a seventeen-year-old 6 ft 1 inch 205 pound healthy male succumbing to crib death were extremely rare, it was just something a father did. 

Joel Cooperstein had been close to his dad from the very beginning. Now as he ventured into adulthood his first task as an adult was going to be walking by his father's side, every morning, through the gauntlet of media into the courtroom.

No matter what the District Attorney, The Coroner and the special interest group who spun this web attempt to tell you, the truth is: it is about right and wrong. Anything else just ain't so.

Promises Broken…..Deron Steven Grimmitt

Deron Steven Grimmitt was buy no stretch of the imagination an evil man, nor was he a good criminal. He was an addict. His addiction to several illegal substances would steer the course of his life in a very predictable direction. In and out of run ins with the law since his teenage years combined with several failed attempts at rehab, Deron had found himself at 31 years of age in a desperate quest for a higher power through twelve step programs. A true drug addict is already dead they just don't know it.

He had a young son. This Christmas was going to be different he had promised the boy. After years of very little contact and providing very little support, Deron was going to bring his son the greatest gift of all this year. A father.

To a drug addict, these promises are not made with the intention of being broken. It is more likely part of a search that will bring important responsibilities to the forefront of their existence in the hope that the promise in itself will override the insanity of addiction and change the course of his life. It was not to be.

CHAPTER THREE

  "This Bastards Mine" McNeilly was overheard stating to Commander Ronald Freeman as he walked into the detective bureau on the morning of December 21, 1998.

FROM THE HEAD STINKS THE FISH (part one)

The McNeilly letter to Allegheny County Superintendent Thomas Sturgeon

The following is a supplemental report, which summarizes Chief Robert McNeilly's first course of action subsequent to the tragic shooting of suspect Deron Grimmitt. Less then 24 hours after the suspect had been pronounced dead, the chief began to manipulate the criminal justice system for his own personal revenge.   He did not send any investigative reports, personnel files, training and qualification information, or relevant data in reference to the officer involved or the actual event.

Nor did Chief McNeilly provide any ballistic or trajectory evidence to the county investigators.

The information that was the McNeilly administrative top priority and the first order of business on December 23,1998 was to supply The Allegheny County Police Superintendent with the writings of the BLUE KNIGHT.

It was Absurd. No in reality, it was pathetic. From a moral standpoint pathetic is the accurate description , but from an achieved result evaluation maybe pathetic is not the correct word. Due to the fact that this tactic worked better then could have been anticipated, it was brilliant. To all who had the opportunity to read this document, the intent was obvious, and not one of them did a thing to derail this corruption laden choo choo. McNeilly was attempting to prejudice a police investigation to achieve the results he desired.

  This letter so clearly displayed McNeilly’s motives in this case and resulted in inflaming and prejudicing the entire judicial process. If this letter had been written about a minority suspect and an investigation slanted in this manner, would not the special interests be lining up on Grant Street? It was only a white Jew and all was quiet.

Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Borkowski has won permission from Cercone to present evidence in an attempt to link Cooperstein to the Blue Knight, the cyberspace critic of the police department. The prosecution contends the Blue Knight essays will show Cooperstein's state of mind regarding the use of deadly force.  

Assistant District Attorney Edward Borkowski, who would prosecute Pittsburgh police officer Jeffrey Cooperstein, had become the man servant Igor to Steve Zapalla’s power crazed Frankenstein. A frail and pale individual who at most times looked as though he just entered into the latter stages of the HIV virus, Borkowski’s take on the Cooperstein case was that he was just “doing his job”.

The Blue Knight Evidence

The following are the three excerpts from postings by the Blue Knight that were read to the jury. District Attorney Steven Zappalla was quoted as stating that the editorials contained “racial animus” and demonstrated the author’s “ murderous state of mind”.

1) July 1997: Knight Court

"Anyone who gets killed or injured in the performance of a job where you are penalized and not supported in your actions by your own employer is a moron, not a hero. A true hero will win every confrontation that they are involved in and survive to go home to guide and educate their own children in a desperate hope that the direction of society and the course of the future can be changed, so the kingdom's streets will be safe once again. Remember, use the survival force continuum which is to win at any cost: not the one taught to protect the administrative collective asses."

If an author writes editorials reiterating the fact that a police officer must survive every encounter to go home to his children, does that show the officer to have  a “murderous state of mind”.

 The District Attorney did not want the public to read the entire editorials. Taking the phrases out of the context they were written in was an integral part of the plan.

 The following is one of the three excerpts from postings by the Blue Knight that were read to the jury

2) July 1997: A Knight Out

"As for the criminal element, the city can force me to attend a thousand training classes where my horticultural awareness is heightened and enhanced. I'll get two days pay to fondle and caress all the grapes the city wants me to. But, if the actor disregards my commands, challenges my authority, or encroaches my safety zone and threatens me in any way, I will squash him like a grape."

  If you question and criticize the relevance and need of cultural diversity classes having absolutely nothing to do with cultural diversity, does that make you a racist? Does that demonstrate “racial animus”?

The following is one of the three excerpts from postings by the Blue Knight that were read to the jury

3) August 1997: Damage To Gammage

"To a police officer there are no points for second place. The officer    either wins the confrontation or he dies. If you get out of your car and  fight with me on a traffic stop, for whatever dysfunctional cause you have; I will feel remorse when you die for that cause. I will go home to see my child in the morning."

  If you disagree or question the amount of blame that Johnny Gammage had to shoulder in his own death, does that make you a racist? Does it demonstrate “racial animus”?

Coop was firmly entrenched in the jaws of a political and police administrative corruption. These essential components had set the machine of this travesty in motion. The parts of this machine were well oiled with the acts of a vindictive chief of police and the political ambitions of a District Attorney and County Coroner running for office. This political lubricant was believed to include the stamp of approval born of the unbridled hate from certain special interest groups who hid behind the color line.

JFK would cry out for death if he had been forced to observe what his hopes of racial equality and civil rights had been turned into. Martin Luther King Jr would role over in his grave if had been made aware of how his ideas of diversity and equality based on an individual's qualifications and integrity, not color, had been basterdized for selfish needs.

It has now become profitable for members of the media and special interest groups across the nation to sensationalize the story, incite the emotions, create fear and slant the truth to the public. It has become a marketable and lucrative enterprise to paint the white cop as a “racist” and the career criminal as a victim of police abuse. No evidence is required to back these claims up.

The Reverend Jessie Jackson without any insight into the facts of the case will come to your town and initiate a crusade for justice. The good Reverend will then charter a jet and fly the suspect's family to the White House to voice their complaints to Bill Clinton. The Reverend Jackson, adorned in a 2000 dollar Armani suit, will pose for the media at a self-initiated press conference and call the police officer a "terrorist".

Esther Bush of the Urban League will pen an inflammatory letter of fiction to the president of the United States. The letter will be fraught with inaccuracies and intentional erroneous statements in reference to the facts of the tragic incident. Hugh Price will then make a plea for Attorney General Janet Reno to step in and halt the police atrocities.

The NAACP will protest in front of the Hill District police station with signs adorned with Nazi Swastikas demanding that the “Jew Cop” be held accountable. All this goes on while the politicians remain silent and the local media does not print a word.

There is a plethora of anger remaining from societies past wrongs. A person does not need to see a flame if someone yells “fire” in a crowded movie theater.

Friday, January 29, 1999

By Michael A. Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Councilman Sala Udin led the charge against the rally yesterday. He said the union's decision to hold the rally was keeping the city "ball-and-chained to the plantation" and criticized its support of Cooperstein, the officer widely assumed to be the Internet's "Blue Knight," a critic of police bureau policies.

 "We postponed it out of sensitivity to the community and problems it could have caused," said Hlavac, who was in uniform. "But I'm outside and [a protester] looked me in the eye and called me a cold-blooded, no-conscience killer. They don't even know me." Gene Hlavac… FOP

"Rather than deciding to support the Blue Knight and officers who obviously wait in ambush, who murder African-American men, I would hope [the FOP] will be calling for justice just like the rest of the community is calling for justice, and not closing ranks behind this thin blue line to keep us in the past," Udin said.

CITY COUNCIL, RACE BAITERS AND THUGS, Oh My

Sala Udin was a racist. He was not interested in the truth or justice and was best known for making loud noises designed to incite the mob that would gather whenever a black individual found themselves in the unique position of being arrested or injured during the commission of a crime.

The members of this loud minority wanted revenge. It was that simple. The more hate that festered, the greater longevity Sala Udin would enjoy at his place of employment. Without hate, why would you need Sala Udin?

The media was quick to inflame racial tensions by deliberately choosing to describe Deron Grimmitt as the unarmed motorist. In reality this is referred to as "tip of the iceberg" half/truth reporting designed for a specific purpose. The fact of the matter is that Deron Grimmitt fit neither the definition of "unarmed" or   "motorist".

The special interest groups and members of city council deemed it politically advantageous to paint the picture of Deron Grimmitt as another helpless victim of police abuse. A poor misguided black man just putting his life back together after a childhood of unfavorable trauma placed upon him by the evils of society.  According to one writer for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Deron Grimmitt received “a bullet in the brain for speeding”.

This particular moronic statement, which would become one of many, displayed where the motivation and thought process resided for the majority of the Pittsburgh media. Statements of the truth designed to heal sell less papers in comparison to statements of fiction guaranteed to inflame. The true facts of that evening and tragic events would have required  closer scrutiny and an abundance of more accurate reporting. It was not to be.

From Death To Dollars comes Cyril Wecht

Sometimes a review of what was not done during an investigation is a clear indication toward the underlying motives of what little investigation was done.  

TWELVE INCHES

The point from which the bullet exited the Glock pistol (Cooperstein in a modified Weaver Shooting stance) was 60 inches above the roadway. The point at which Deron Grimmitt was struck (seated upright in his vehicle) is only 48 inches above the roadway. Yet according to Dr. Wecht's office, and the DA, the bullet transversed Deron Grimmitt's brain on a straight line from the side. A straight line trajectory where the numbers do not add up. In order to raise the height of Grimmitt’s head in his vehicle for a straight line shot, the vehicle position must be placed further outbound on the graded roadway. It had to be elevated. Dr. Wecht, how do you explain this? Mr. Zapalla, any answers?

The people in power knew that the side shot/passing by/danger passed theory was not only inaccurate and misleading, it was not possible. The fatal shot was a deflected fragment from an unknown angle, it was that simple. No intent, no malice, just a scared cop reacting in the face of danger. The politicians in Pittsburgh knew that the law abiding silent majority would remain just that, silent. At the same time they were certain that the special interests would scream louder.

The timing of this case made it so it did not benefit Dr. Wecht to gather evidence or provide facts in order to bring into the limelight the Grimmitt brothers dangerous criminal actions of that evening which had precipitated the tragedy.  It most certainly was not any part of the Doctor’s plan to provide answers or conduct tests that could be used to exonerate Officer Cooperstein.

In fact, the conspicuous lack of testing, investigating and reconstruction was intentionally turned into a myriad of unanswered questions that created unsupported supposition and allegation of what Officer Cooperstein may or may not have done. Add in a Doctor Wecht Multiple Sclerosis rage theory and the officer exercising his constitutional right to remain silent on advice of council and you now have created the desired political pre-election "feeding frenzy".

It is not a wise political move to advise the vocal minority special interest groups what they need to hear. What they need to hear is the truth.

It is entirely more lucrative, beneficial and popular to rile the mob by telling them what they want to hear. Flame the tensions, incite the emotions and bring the crowd into the game.

This would conveniently place political pressure on those individuals running for office to follow blindly in step behind Chief McNeilly and Doctor Wecht’s wishes.

This was no conspiracy; it was anticipated, political pandering and simple stupidity. When stupidity fueled by blind ambition affects elected officials in a position of power, we are well on the way to a travesty.

THE DARKEST KNIGHT         05/21/98

While police officer names continue to be added to the memorial wall, do the people we protect and work for place the same value on our lives as we obviously place on theirs? The KNIGHT hopes this story will awaken a few young officers to what the real priority in life is. Please remember that for every action, there is a consequence. Be safe at all costs.

In taking the administration's advice, the KNIGHT has conceded that in some instances the message of the facts can become lost in the sarcasm; here are the facts:

THE ENCOUNTER

As the officer struggled desperately with the twice convicted felon who had just been released from the county jail, he wondered how easily this arrest might have gone down had he had the use of the OC spray that had been promised by the administration years before. The officer cursed himself as he fought for his life, and for second guessing himself when placing his expandable baton back into it's scabbard where it would not injure any criminals. The moment of hesitation associated with prudent officer safety decision making grew from the memory of last weeks visit to internal affairs to answer a " use of force" complaint that had been initiated by an assistant chief.

THE LAST BREATH

The young officer only vaguely felt the searing pain as the speeding hot projectile from his own forty caliber Glock traveled through several failing strands of Kevlar on his eight year old ballistic vest as if it were only melted butter. To think that only two months prior the officer's request for a new vest had been denied by the administration in another attempt to save money and cover up for poor financial management. It was quite a surprise to the young knight in blue how the suspect had effortlessly removed his service weapon from his level "zero" safety holster that the officer just last week picked from a barrel of old, un-inspected, used holsters routinely being given out as replacements to the Pittsburgh police officers. Chief McNeilly himself had given these used holsters his own seal of approval. What young officer would believe that our own chief would mislead or not deem our safety paramount? No matter, the early warning system for the Justice Department consent decree will be up and running soon and that is what is truly important, isn't it chief?

THE LAST THOUGHT

As the officer slumped dying to the cold wet cement in the target area, the overwhelming fear of what lay ahead for his loved ones in his absence was immediately followed by the heartbreaking sadness that this dad would never get to experience the thrill of dancing at his daughter's wedding.

THE INQUEST

The young officer never felt the surgical precision and expertise attached to the scalpel wielded at the hands of renowned county coroner Cyril Wecht. Our idealistic hero could never have understood the lengthy anatomical diatribe that followed at the inquest , detailing the good doctor's finding that the tearing feeling experienced by the officer prior to his demise had been the fragmented lead ripping through his pulmonary artery.

THE FUNERAL

The pomp and ceremony surrounding our fallen protagonist's funeral was a truly impressive sight. Police officers from all over the region, looking solemn and somber, clad in their dress blue uniforms, paid their last respects to their fallen brother. Flags outside the beautiful stone church fluttered at half mast. City officers, who had defied a chief's order not to attend the service on duty, huddled in the back of the sanctuary trying not to be noticed. As the bagpipes wailed out Amazing Grace, journalists vied for the best photo of the sobbing widow. A deputy chief who had never met her husband delivered a eulogy using the words like "bravery" and "heroism" - words that sound hollow to a woman who had just lost the only man she ever loved. Chief McNeilly, who was in Barbados at a chief's convention, nonetheless sent a lovely flower arrangement and his condolences in a card. At the cemetery, the young mother clutch the hands of her now fatherless children as a twenty one gun salute tore through the silence of a rainy summer morning. Then, as she softly whispered "I love you" one last time, our hero's coffin was lowered into a cold, dark gash in the ground.

THE EPILOGUE

It has been seven years of struggle and turmoil since her husband gave his life "for the cause" and everyday misery manifests itself in the way the widow of our fallen comrade now has to live. The insurance fund was quickly depleted, as were the donations given out of the pocket of brother and sister officers. The "purple heart" medal delivered by UPS to her residence three months after her husband had been laid to rest only brought one hundred dollars at the local pawn shop. The broker stated it would have been worth much more had it been the " medal of honor". The ten thousand dollars per year provided by the city kept her existence below the national poverty level and medical assistance was difficult to find now that the city had terminated their health insurance benefits. Tears welled in her in eyes as she watched the Realtor plant the " For Sale" sign on the front lawn of her well kept home in Lincoln Place. She had qualified for a section eight loan and food stamps through socials services and soon would be relocating the family to a row house in Beltzhoover. She once again wished that it had been she who had lost her life that fateful evening. She desperately wished that God would have made him smarter, instead of braver. It was again going to be a long December, imprisoned by the knowledge there would once again be no money for the children's'' gifts during the holidays.

THE FINAL INSULT..........

came as she shuffled down the generic food aisle at the local Giant Eagle and moved slowly past a man who looked vaguely familiar. The man, dressed in an expensive leather coat and several gold chains, was laughing and giggling while strolling next to what looked like one of the local whores. It struck like of wave of ice cold water from the North Atlantic. He was the slimeball who had murdered her husband. He had been released after serving only seven years of a fifteen year sentence, for good behavior. The bandit's grocery cart was filled to the top with filet mignon and shrimp. The city widow's cart contained a thin layer of cereal for the children. At the check out counter, the felon paid with a crisp new one hundred dollar bill. The police officer widow made sure no one was watching as she tore off a twenty dollar food coupon and handed it to the checkout girl.

The cry of police abuse and the protection of the criminals' rights echoes as the battle cry of lawbreaking individuals, while serving as the fight song for wealthy entrepreneurs seated at the defense table who happen to possess a Juris Doctorate. In addition to the administrative lack of concern, black and white police officers watch after every police incident, as city council and special interest groups sling out the race card as quickly as sleazy dealers at a Vegas blackjack table.

In our line of work, it is only a matter of time before one of our comrades falls. The Post Gazette may flash Chief of Police Robert McNeilly Jr.'s photo on the front page kneeling at a memorial service but to your troops is comes off as hypocritical and shallow coming from a man who has consistently and conveniently placed officer safety issues and support for his men on the back burner behind the consent decree mandates. God forbid that one of our officers ever does fall in Pittsburgh, and I hope it's not my widow that stares you in the face and asks if you did all that you could. Did you?

You who cries, "lest we forget" seems to be the one in desperate need of memory stimulation, because....

THE ONLY COLOR HERE IS BLUE

"Absolute power, corrupts absolutely"

The argument did not last very long. John, the manger of the quiet eating establishment sauntered over and politely advised the Chief and his wife to keep the shouting down. Other patrons of the restaurant had started to complain in reference to the loud obscenities he had been screaming at her. One patron even had stated that he had observed the Chief raise his hand as if to strike her, but as before, this was quickly dismissed as an exaggeration of the truth that had led in the past to those unproven but consistent allegations that the man had a violent temper combined with a propensity toward physically abusing members of his family.

The desire for revenge had become Chief Robert McNeilly’s life force.  The extreme measures that he would employ to reach his goal had begun to manifest themselves in a myriad of ways.

Individuals on McNeilly’s staff had started to observe some weird behavior emanating from their leader. At the weekly staff meetings, the chief would go from periods of incoherent mumbling as if on Lithium, to fits of outright rage similar to a steroid overdose.

McNeilly stood at the commanders meeting, red faced and glaring. When McNeilly became incensed, the veins on the sides of his neck would bulge as if on the verge of bursting. He tossed the latest copy of the Blue Knight across the table and screamed, ”When I find this guy, I will cut his balls off”.

McNeilly's dishonesty, obsession and true motive in the case had been documented for eternity.

The Light of Knight

(FROM THE HOMEPAGE OF CHIEF ROBERT McNEILLY, JR.)

________________________________________________________________________

I have been following the writings of the officer who has dubbed himself "The Blue Knight." I don't think that is an appropriate name for someone who is as negative thinking and counterproductive as his diatribe has shown.  The Blue Knights organization is a legitimate group of well-mannered and generous adults who enjoy life and work towards making other lives better through fund-raisers for the "Make-A-Wish" foundation.

I think that the self-proclaimed "Blue Knight" should have identified himself with another name that would have been more appropriate, possibly someone who fears the light of truth.

Many of the writings by this person have called for courage by others in the Bureau, especially the "white shirts."  But, this person has chosen not to show personal courage by coming forth with legitimate criticisms.  Rather than trying to be a part of the solution, this person has chosen to attempt to satisfy personal frustrations while hiding behind the facade of pseudonym.  As it says in the Bible, "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

The "Blue Knight" speaks about truth. I have stood behind what I have said are truths in my beliefs. I would encourage the "Blue Knight" to come forward since there is nothing to fear or hide from if it is the truth that we are seeking.

The public in general has disdain for any person who does not have the fortitude to take responsibility for his/her own actions and words.  We know the common thief who hides behind a mask, the gang member who is afraid to be identified, and the Klan member who must wear a hood to prevent being recognized, all as lacking in the courage of their "convictions."

It is unfortunate that anyone so dissatisfied with life can spend so much time and effort in such unfruitful and depressing ways.  I would urge anyone so dissatisfied with life and the fulfillment that should be forthcoming in anyone's life to concentrate on something that is more productive to himself and to those around him. As the youth of today now recognizes through their saying, "Get a life!"

Please do yourself a favor, and the rest of us, by allowing us to focus on what is good in life.

Obviously, the "Blue Knight" is not capable of adjusting to stresses required of the many professional adult men and women who have taken on the enormous task of being a peace officer.  Many of us in this profession are trying to make the best of difficult times.

My challenge to the "Blue Knight" is to show the courage that you so frequently call for in everyone else. If what you have to say is the truth, there is no shame in speaking the truth for all to hear and for all to know from whence the complaints emanate.

In closing, let me quote James Russell Lowell who said "Light is the symbol of truth."

<< The preceding article originally appeared on the homepage of Pittsburgh's Chief of Police, Robert McNeilly, Jr.  [http://members.aol.com/rwmcneilly/index.html] in August of 1997 >>

 Also, I take issue with suggestions that my Internet Web site is in response to the Blue Knight Web site. I used the site to dispel rumors and to advise officers of changes within the bureau. I ended that forum when we hired a manager of public affairs to communicate with our officers and the public. I would encourage the public to visit my site [http://members.aol.com/Rwmcneilly/] and make their own judgments about the professionalism and motives for my writing. 

Robert McNeilly Jr.  04/03/2000 Pittsburgh Post Gazette

ROBERT W. McNEILLY JR.
Chief
Pittsburgh Bureau of Police
Downtown

From Knightstalker …….The Blue Knight  08/17/97

I have recently received a correspondence from someone identifying himself or herself as the White Knight.  They also identify themselves as Chief of Police Robert McNeilly.  In your editorial titled "The Light of Knight" you state that it is your opinion that any person who exercises their protected right to free speech in direct contrast to your own opinion and chooses to remain anonymous should be compared to the likes of law breaking gang members and the KKK.  This must have been the same repressed  rationale that was widely accepted under Stalin.  

I am extremely curious what particular proctologic procedure was done in order for you to extract your head from your ass long enough to arrive at this conclusion and comparison.  To state that the public has an across the board disdain for individuals who conceal their identity is inaccurate and short sighted.  

Would it not be just a bit more accurate to describe The Blue Knight as being similar to the likes of Harriet Tubman who against the political climate of the time, engineered the underground railroad which resulted in the saving of countless lives during the years that slavery existed or perhaps the members of the French underground of World War Two who displayed unmitigated selfless courage and were responsible for saving thousands of Jews destined for the Nazi gas chambers.  Let us not leave out the Man of Steel, the Caped Crusader and the Lone Ranger all who hid their identities in the fight for truth and justice.  Americans have historically embraced the unidentified crime fighter.  

There was something important for the Chief to do. The obsession and hate for the anonymous internet writer was spreading like a terminal cancer from within. Sprouting like poison ivy from deep inside the man's psychotic thought process evolved the thought that he wanted The Blue Knight dead. Rumor had been circulating that it was Jeffrey Cooperstein who was the cunning behind the masked computer character. The Chief's opportunity for legalized murder of an individual who had humiliated him, in reality was not long in arriving.

Dealing From The Bottom Of The Race Card Deck

Chief Robert McNeilly Jr. was no stupid politician. With the political climate warmed to his touch, the man knew exactly how to play the race card to his benefit. With the appropriate amount of misinformation combined with an inappropriate amount of disinformation the Chief could exact out the precise goal he was looking for. 

Jeffrey Cooperstein had humiliated him and brought his self-serving methods under a watchful eye. In his anger laced, ego blinded narcistic view of right and wrong, this officer had to die. Does he not know who I am? He deserves to die. 

Play my cards correctly and sit back as the elected officials take the bait. I do this right and no one will be the wiser. The Chief downed one more shot of  Jim Beam before setting the new security system and leaving his office.

To those watching from outside the inner circle and according to public statements made by McNeilly, The Chief had recused himself from the investigation into the Grimmitt shooting. This is one of those contracts where you have to read the fine print. Chief Robert McNeilly Jr. in truth, was manipulating the course of the investigation surreptitiously from behind the curtain, and "Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore".

"This Bastard's Mine" McNeilly was overheard stating to Commander Ronald Freeman as he walked into the detective bureau on the morning of December 21, 1998.

You’re A Racist!

  Many years and a combined concerted effort of individuals with self serving agendas attached to the political juice of the United States government were required in order for this brand of lynch mob mentality to thrive. Left unchecked, and unchallenged it had led to the City of Pittsburgh into signing  a consent decree with the Justice Department in order to avoid a protracted litigation based on several unsubstantiated allegations of police misconduct. The public outcry over the Johnny Gammage case and the subsequent acquittal of those involved pushed the Justice Department plan to federalize the police over the top. 

Cooking  up on the backburner of Bill Clinton's liberal White House stove was the federal government's large-scale plan to exercise control over local police departments through consent decrees. With a Mayor in power who carefully hid the alleged organized crime campaign contribution skeletons in his closet, Pittsburgh became an attractive target for the Feds.

The hidden agenda to the consent decree was a calculated surreptitious program for several well-placed individuals to make a large profit. When a government backed plan spawns something that defies reason, possess no backing in truth or fact and leads to the creation of an unsafe environment for the tax paying public; follow the money.

Local politicians, Special Interest liberals and the Chief of Police allowed a climate to be born where this type of poison would fester; and fester it did.

Throughout the entire sequence from shooting to acquittal, The NAACP and the URBAN League played their required parts on exacted queue.  Fueling racial divide and creating fact to fit the feast of propaganda they were serving, the special interest groups now had morphed into what they had been originally formed to prevent. The actions of these groups were killing the credibility and the very spirit of integrity their black predecessors had fought for years to have recognized.

  The only items in absence outside this modern day courtroom during the coroner’s inquest were the white hoods and a noosed rope dangling off a nearby tree. A hate group is a hate group by any name.

 

December 21, 1998 0330

The Glock 17 snapped out of the level two safety holster instinctively, a product of years of police training combined with the police instructor's mantra that all police officers have a legal and God given right to survive this exact life-threatening encounter. Survival is a mindset. For a District Attorney to use a police academy taught survival based "state of mind" as a motive to charge first degree murder is obscene.  

Fueled by training, shear terror and adrenaline the weapon came to life as Officer Cooperstein squeezes the trigger four times.

  Urey Patrick- FBI......... Use of force Expert and Instructor 

“"Patrolman Cooperstein is experiencing the well documented “Fight or Flight” syndrome. This involuntary reaction to a perceived threat to survival is automatic and ref1exive in its effectuation. The subconscious level of the central nervous system takes command of the metabolism. Adrenaline is pumped into the system. Blood vessels in the extremities are squeezed down or closed off, increasing blood flow to the large muscle groups and the brain itself. Blood pressure and pulse are greatly elevated. This results in a loss of dexterity and loss of fine motor control”. (An analogy would be to consider peeling a hard-boiled egg, an easy task with normal dexterity and fine motor control. Now imagine doing it with boxing gloves on)".

  The two brothers, convicted felons fleeing the police to avoid going back to prison had long before made a conscious decision not to let the police stand in their way. Joined in flight by his brother Curtis, Deron Grimmitt, driving erratically and now bearing down on the lone officer standing between him and freedom, penned the first line written in a script for disaster. "Are you with me"?  

In the next four seconds the scene would be played out and 31-year-old Deron Grimmitt would be dead.  

The Law

From Section 508 of the Pennsylvania Crime Codes

A peace officer . . . need not retreat or desist from efforts to make a lawful arrest because of resistance or threatened resistance to the arrest. He is justified in the use of force which he believes to be necessary to effect the arrest and of any force which he believes to be necessary to defend himself or another from bodily harm while making the arrest. However, he is justified in using deadly force only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person or when he believes that:

 

1) Such force is necessary to prevent the arrest being defeated by resistance or escape and

 

2) The person to be arrested has committed or attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape and possesses a deadly weapon or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay.

 

U.S. Supreme Court

GRAHAM v. CONNOR, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)

490 U.S. 386

The calculus of reasonableness must embody [490 U.S. 386, 397] allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments - in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving - about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation

 

Better To Be Judged By Twelve, Then Carried By Six”

The Glock Pistol

The Austrian made 9mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol was an innovative design combining both steel and polymer plastic together in a firearm for the first time. The pistol was easy to maintain, extremely durable and "user friendly".  

The Glock 17,  that was purchased by Officer Cooperstein held eighteen rounds of ammunition in the magazine and one round in the chamber. This was the condition of the weapon when an officer was on duty. The New York style first shot double action trigger pull was relatively light and subsequent shots would come as fast as one could pull the trigger.

The force of the exploding bullet being fired would cause the slide to be pushed back and the shell casing would be ejected. This process of ejection would allow the feeder to seat the next round into the chamber.

The Glock pistol ejected the shell casings upward, slightly back and to the right.  

Back and to the Right, Back and to the Right.......

 

Hydra-Shok

Hydra-Shok® Hydra-Shok® features a unique, patented center-post design and notched jacket. It delivers reliable, controlled expansion for efficient energy transfer and stopping power. Hydra-Shok is designed for law enforcement, hunting, home defense and personal protection………. Federal Cartridge Co.

A 121-grain lead fragment struck Deron Grimmitt slightly above and slightly behind the deceased's left ear. There is no document, examination, autopsy report, photograph or court record that ever states or implies that the fatal shot struck in the "back of the head" as District Attorney Zapalla continues to claim to the media. Why would he intentionally lie?

In this particular case, the evidence shows that the projectile appears to have first struck the driver's side window, causing the copper jacket to separate completely from the lead core. The copper jacket was recovered on the passenger floor of the vehicle, badly damaged.  No copper fragments were found in the fatal wound to Deron Grimmitt or on any of his clothing indicating that the separated copper jacket had not encountered the suspect.

The bullet that strikes Deron Grimmitt first strikes the driver’s side window of the car. It is a Federal Cartridge Corporation 9mm 147 grain HydraShok bullet.

As proven in hundreds of FBI terminal ballistic tests, it is virtually certain that in passing through the glass the bullet will lose its copper jacket and be deformed, thus also losing its aerodynamic shape and becoming a randomly misshapened lump of lead core. Once it has passed through the glass, the lead core will deviate from its original trajectory by virtue of its deformed shape.        Urey Patrick – FBI Expert

Dr. Robert Levine, an Allegheny County criminalist, said holes in Grimmitt's jacket, shirt, and T-shirt could be aligned to show the path the 9 mm bullet took before it struck him above and behind the left ear.

Levine demonstrated how the victim might have been hunched over and raising his elbow in a defensive manner before being struck.

 

 

Samuel Reich  Esq.

When Samuel Reich entered a room, no one would really take notice. It was just another middle-aged man with graying hair and glasses going about his business.

  It quickly changed to daybreak when Samuel J. Reich, attorney at law, began to speak on behalf of his client. The room transformed into a spring rain on the shore at Cape Cod and a magnificent sunset with a rum runner in hand on the pier at Key West. It was control, experience, direction, and honesty. It was all that was good, and then some.

  His soft, direct vocal inflections kept a jury riveted to the facts at hand. He had the amazing ability to bring all eyes and ears to the case placed in front of them, in this courtroom, this defendant, this story. This use of force!  

Sam Reich had set out to make several key points in his opening statement; and that is just what he did.

“The District Attorney has no case. So his goal is going to be an attempt to create one for you with a bit of misdirection,” Mr. Reich stated to the jury members.

“He is going to tell you a tale about the infamous Blue Knight. He will read you passages that explain the underlying truth behind the force continuum clearly.  They are in fact very street smart, blue collar, and even harsh police language but the meaning is the same as the mantra these officers are taught during officer survival training”.

You will survive this encounter, you will survive this encounter.

  When Mr. Reich finished his riveting and emotional opening statement, there was a brief moment of silence. In another venue, one could only envision the rock concert throng on their feet, stomping and screaming, Bic lighters in hand hoping for an encore and one more glimpse of Clapton.

Assistant District Attorney Edward Borkowski sat motionless, staring straight ahead, as if looking at the trailing plumes of smoke separating behind the "ill fated" Space Shuttle Challenger.

Edward Borkowski was well aware on the very first day of trial that he was out of his league.

 

SAMUEL J. REICH  
Reich, Werner & Alexander  
3290 USX Tower
600 Grant Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222-5401  
(Allegheny County)  
Telephone: 412-391-3700  
Fax: 412-391-5323  
Email: rwa@acba.org

POSITION: Member

PRACTICE-AREAS: Criminal Defense Law; Sports Law; Personal Injury.

ADMITTED: 1960, District of Columbia; 1962, Pennsylvania; 1977, U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania; U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

LAW-SCHOOL: University of Pennsylvania (LL.B., magna cum laude, 1960)

COLLEGE: University of Michigan; University of Pittsburgh (A.B., 1957)

TEXT: Omicron Delta Kappa; Order of the Coif. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General's Honors Program, 1960-1961. Assistant U.S. Attorney, 1961-1964 and First Assistant U.S. Attorney, 1964-1966, Western District of Pennsylvania. Member, Federal Courts Civil Advisory Board, Western District of Pennsylvania.

MEMBER: Allegheny County (President, 1995; Member, Criminal Court Rules Committee, Court of Common Pleas), Pennsylvania and American (Member, Victims Rights Committee) Bar Associations; Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association; Association of Trial Lawyers in Criminal Courts of Allegheny County (Chairperson).

BORN: September 8, 1935, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  WHAT DREAMS MAY COME        

"Another side of the coin"                     Feb. 1999

Jeffrey Cooperstein sat down at the conference table, which was located in Union attorney Brian Campbell’s office, seventeen floors above the cobblestone bricks lining Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh. To Coop’s left sat Union President Smokey Hines along side Attorney Campbell. 

Directly across from Jeff sat Chief Robert McNeilly Jr. who was flanked by Deputy Chief Charlie Moffat on one side and acting Public Safety Director Kathy Krauss on the other.

Charlie Moffat fell over backward in his chair as the bullet struck just below his thigh in the direct center of his kneecap. The 147 grain Hydro-Shok bullet shattering the knee cap and the distal end of his femur. The femoral artery had been severed above the knee and Deputy Chief Charlie Moffat had just over three minutes to live.

As Chief McNeilly lifted himself out of his seat still shocked by the sound of the gunshot and the splatter of blood and bone from Moffat’s wound, his eyes met directly with Jeff Cooperstein’s eyes. Jeff stated,  “game over”.

The 9mm shell casing, having nothing to impede it's path, flew up, slightly back and to the right.

There was not enough time to move or react as the chief observed the GLOCK pistol in Jeff’s right hand rise up to eye level in front of him. He heard the first shot echo and felt the bullet wiz past his left ear and smack into the window behind him shattering the glass all about the thick pile carpeting on the conference room floor.

The chief never heard the second shot strike him directly above the right eye, entering his brain and exiting through a large hole now created at the lower part of the back of his skull. Chief Robert McNeilly Jr. dropped like an empty sack, dead to the floor.

Jeff turned to Kathy Krauss, pointed the weapon directly at her face and stated, “ Your ignorant decisions and even more ignorant actions create collateral damage, which is unacceptable”. You and these criminals forever hurt my wife and son”. “Ms. Krauss you are just an unsupervised idiot following the lead of some very stupid people. Remember what you saw here today, I am going to let you live!”

Marla shook Jeff hard; to wake him out of what appeared to be an intense nightmare. She wiped his brow which was covered in sweat and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek as his breathing leveled out and her husband fell back to sleep. Sleep for Jeff was a rare thing.

Marla sat sobbing wondering how long would this go on. She was watching the man she loved being tortured on a nightly basis inside his own head. When would it end?

 

 

excerpts from........AT WHAT COST

The Jeffrey Cooperstein story

  

Cooperstein puts his story of killing on the Internet

Former Pittsburgh police Officer Jeffrey Cooperstein has turned to the Internet to post chapters of a memoir about the fatal shooting that ended his career.                 Cindi Lash.. Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Of victims, Capt. Ahab, Moby Dick and the Blue Knight This city has given Jeff Cooperstein a big pile of money to go away, but he's back. (1/14/2001)

 

 

Jeffrey L. Cooperstein
Copyright © 2000 [Coopreport]. All rights reserved.
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