Left to right: Attorney Michael Coard, Cheney Newman, Nicol Newman, NAACP President Rodney Muhammad via Philly Mag
A Philadelphia social worker wants a trial after two detectives allegedly violated her civil rights by forcing her from her Southwest Philadelphia home and making her spend time in jail.
According to Philly News, social worker Nicol Newman announced Thursday morning in a news conference that she wanted a trial on her summary offense charge of disorderly conduct. The arresting officers have not been charged in the incident.
According to Newman, at noon on March 9, two white detectives came to her home with an arrest warrant for her son, John Newman. She told officers her son was not home and that they could not come in.
Newman’s attorney, Michael Coard, said the detectives had an arrest warrant but not a search warrant, so Newman refused to let them in. The woman was pulled out of her home and thrown in jail.
The details of the case were revealed at a Wednesday joint news conference with the NAACP. The 48-year-old Newman and her attorney met with local NAACP president Rodney Muhammad to make her case for a trial.
After the incident, Newman and her attorney had a brief appearance before city Trial Commissioner Marsha Floyd, but Newman rejected pleading guilty or going into a first-offender diversion program, reports Philly Magazine.
“Can you imagine three or four armed Black police officers going into the Northeast and dragging a law-abiding white mother [or] grandmother out of her house? Can you just imagine that?” Coard asked the audience.
Newman said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross has began an investigation into the incident. A police spokeswoman also stated that this Internal Affairs investigation came in response to the NAACP’s planned press conference about the case.
Many local activists and supporters came to her side in response to the incident. Newman will get her trial. Floyd has set April 19 for a trial before a municipal court judge.
