PITTSBURGH: Investigation Launched After Cop Punches Teen Girl At Pride Fest

A Pittsburgh police officer has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation after he was caught on video punching a teenage girl who had been confronting Christian protesters during the city's gay pride event.

According to the criminal complaint, Ariel Lawther was fighting with a man named Eric Moore. The officer involved said when he went to break the fight up, he was pushed and kicked. The complaint stated that the officer, “pulled the woman out and grabbed her hair and punched her in the stomach a few times.” Channel 11’s Pamela Osborne spoke with Jenny Kenny who recorded the alleged incident. From the very beginning, he grabbed her neck and he shouldn’t have done that,” said Kenny. Channel 11’s Rick Earle reported that sources say the woman involved was arrested and is facing several charges, including resisting arrest. Lawther posted $5,000 bail and has since been released from the Allegheny County Jail. Lawther’s family said she plans to take the incident to a lawyer.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto: "I just want to reassure the people that this is a new day. We won't look the other way when incidents like this happen, and we want to assure everybody -- and that includes both the public and the police -- that we want fairness. We will work diligently to make sure that justice is not delayed and that we will be able to proceed over the next month to find out exactly what happened, and to take the proper action."

Witnesses claim that the girl did not assault the police officer. A much longer clip surfaced yesterday afternoon, but bystanders block the beginning of the incident.

PITTSBURGH: Mayor Bill Peduto To Officiate Mass Wedding At Gay Pride

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto will officiate for as many as 20 same-sex couples during his city's gay pride event.

In the wake of the ruling, Mr. Peduto said he wanted the first marriage he officiated to be one for a same-sex couples. Now, he’s opening up a ceremony to 20 couples, whose marriages he will officiate in Triangle Park Downtown, between Fifth and Liberty avenues and adjacent to the Fairmont Hotel. Following a 2 p.m. ceremony, the hotel will host a reception. It will occur in the midst of PrideFest activities. “I said last week I would be thrilled to make the marriage of an LGBT couple the first I officiate as Mayor, and being able to share that moment with many others should make for an even more joyous celebration,” Mr. Peduto said in a news release.

Pittsburgh Pride is June 15th. (Tipped by JMG reader Paul)

At The Pittsburgh Celebration

Stick around for the proposal.

At Least 20 Students Injured In Stabbing Spree At Pennsylvania High School

CNN reports:

At least 20 students were injured Wednesday morning in a stabbing incident at Franklin Regional Senior High School in the Pittsburgh area, said Dan Stevens, an emergency management agency spokesman. Four people were flown to hospitals by helicopter, he said. A message on the Franklin Regional School District's website said all of its elementary schools were closed after the incident, and "the middle school and high school students are secure." Students stabbed at Pennsylvania school Authorities said a suspect was in custody.

According to a televised update, at least seven students are in serious condition.

Pittsburgh High School Lip-Dubs Avicii

These are always fun. But when did high schools get so huge? This place looks more like a college.

Anthony Weiner For Mayor Of Pittsburgh

The Weiner campaign was embarrassed yesterday when Pittsburgh bloggers noticed that the banner on his website featured the silhouetted skyline of their city and not New York.  The bottom image above is the one that Weiner's site designers apparently used. The company has apologized for their "honest mistake" and has updated the site with actual photos of Gotham.

Sonic Weapon Used On Protesters At G20 Summit In Pittsburgh

Police used a sonic weapon to drive back the protesters at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh on Thursday afternoon. It's believed to be the first time such a weapon was used on a crowd in the United States.

There's No Furries In Baseball

The NY Mets were "justifiably freaked out" to realize they were staying in the same hotel as a furry convention during this week's away games in Pittsburgh. Above, Mets announcer Kevin Burkhardt poses with a beaver. I think that's a beaver. Anthrocon 2009 continues through Sunday. Pittsburgh continues in last place.

McCain Worker Admits She Lied About Being Mugged By Obama Supporter

Yesterday the exec VP of Fox News said: “This incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election. If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee. If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.”

Well, I guess it's over for McCain then.

Police sources tell KDKA that a campaign worker has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter "B" in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker. Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car. Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test. Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.

Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and "the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction." This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story. The commander added that Todd will face charges; but police have not commented on what those charges will be.

It's been so very fascinating watching this story unfold on Free Republic. It was like being inside the collective hive mind of a drone colony of wingnuts. Here's how the collective saw Ashley Todd's story:

Hour One, Outrage: "Damn! Poor girl! I hope they catch the fucker and FRY HIM!"
Hour Two, Blame: "This is Obama's fault. Remember how he asked his supporters to get into everybody's face?"
Hour Three, Predictions: "This heinous and brutal mutilation is just a tiny sign of the widespread debauchery, violence, and perversion that will overtake the country when Nobama's socialist-marxist-communist-fag administration takes over. IT'S A SIGN, PEOPLE."
Hour Four, Satisfaction: "Can you believe those pigs at Kos and DU are calling this a hoax? Guess they don't like their Savage Leader calling on the brothers to give us a taste of what's coming BEFORE the election. Sorry Commies, you screwed this one up."
Hour Five, Planning: "McCain needs to get this Todd girl on the campaign trail. Her beaten and Barack-scarred face would show this country exactly the sort of ghetto filth that their Messiah will unleash on the rest of us."
Hour Six, Dismissal: "The Pittsburgh cops say they're suspicious of Todd's story. Figures that inner city cops are covering up for this gruesome attack on a poor white girl."
Hour Seven, Hope: "McCain and Palin have already called Ashley to express condolences. Let's hope the Ashley Todd ads are being made as we speak. Ashley is our Willie Horton!"
Hour Eight, Anger: "The liberal elite MSM is casting doubt on the story. Why is anybody surprised? You can bet if this was a black girl with an "M" carved in her face this would be on EVERY CHANNEL."
Hour Nine, SnopesZone: (This hour was consumed with dozens of traded theories on exactly how a person gets a backwards "B" carved into her face with little damage. People claiming to be ER doctors and plastic surgeons weigh in to SWEAR that Todd's wound's are "totally consistent" with her story.)
Hour Ten, Suspicion: "If this IS a hoax you know this girl was planted by leftists to make us look bad. What's her background? Why did she just get to town? OMG! On her MySpace she friended RON PAUL!"
CONCLUSION: "Obviously Ashley Todd was part of a very well-run campaign to discredit McCain. Congratulations are due to MoveOn for this one. Don't expect to the MSM to investigate this OBVIOUS plant by the Obamacons."

Seriously.

The hilarious photo below was created by Gawker commenter Fetys.

Tawana Brawley II

McCain campaign volunteer Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas claims she was using an ATM on the "wrong side of Pittsburgh" when a Huge! Scary! Negro! mugged her. After robbing her of $60, the mugger dragged Todd to her car and became so enraged upon seeing her McCain bumper sticker that he punched her in the eye and carved the letter "B" into her cheek with a knife.

The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes.

The Obama-Biden campaign released a statement, commenting on the attack. The statement said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the young woman for her to make a speedy recovery, and we hope that the person who perpetrated this crime is swiftly apprehended and brought to justice."

The McCain-Palin campaign also released a statement saying, "The McCain campaign is aware of the incident involving one of its volunteers. Out of respect, the campaign won't be commenting. The campaign also confirms that Senator McCain and Governor Palin have both spoken to the woman."

The letter B. As in "Barack." Uh, only the "B" is carved backwards, like somebody was looking into a mirror when she did it. And the cut is even and shallow, like somebody didn't want her face permanently scarred. Oh, and the attack happened just outside the range of the ATM's surveillance cameras. Also according to Ms. Todd, her attacker was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt. In the 40-degree Pittsburgh weather.

After the Drudge Report jumped on the story with a 72-point red font headline, the news quickly spread to the conservative and PUMA blogosphere. From the PUMA site HillBuzz:

Obama supporters are truly the most despicable people we’ve ever encountered - and we worked the Kerry, Gore, and 1996 Clinton campaigns. We’ve never seen any political supporters mutilate anyone’s flesh before. If you vote for Obama, you condone this behavior, and empower the thugs who commit acts of violence like this in his name. Why hasn’t Obama come out to tell his followers to stop doing this? Obama must stop his followers from mutilating the flesh of those who oppose him. [Note to regular JMG readers: Check out the first commenter on the story. Heh.]

Purely by coincidence, Tawana Ashley had just started a Twitter account and the Smoking Gun posted her last three messages. Three hours after a brutal assault and she's happily Twittering away? Surprisingly, even some of wingnuttiest McCain flacks out there are calling "fake". Michelle Malkin:

We have enough low-lifes and thugs in the world running loose and causing campaign chaos and fomenting hatred without having to make them up. I’ve been blowing the whistle on the real, left-wing rage not on the front page and in-your-face tactics throughout the election season. Hate crimes hoaxes — by anyone, of any political persuasion, and of any color — diminish us all. Either way, I hope that Todd gets the help she needs, that the whole truth comes out, and that justice is served on the perpetrator. Whoever he or she may be.

Pittsburgh cops aren't buying the story and plan to polygraph her. But get ready for Ashley Todd to become a rallying point for the GOP. There's already several thousand "outraged" comments on the Freepers threads about this. Here's the story from Fox News:

UPDATE: From Todd's MySpace page: "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her cloths off, but its better if you do."

UPDATE II: The unraveling has begun. Todd has changed her story several times. She now claims she was sexually assaulted and knocked unconscious and doesn't recall the injuries to her face.