If federal officials agree to investigate the Nizah Morris case, a key issue in dispute is whether police put a jacket over Morris’ face as she clung to life with a fractured skull.
Morris was a transgender woman found Dec. 22, 2002, with blunt-force head trauma shortly after receiving a “courtesy ride” from police.
She died two days later, and her homicide is unsolved.
In 2006, witness Paul Brennan told the Police Advisory Commission that a police officer at the scene, later identified as Thomas Berry, put a jacket over Morris’ face at 16th and Walnut streets, where she was unconscious.
Brennan said he drove west on Walnut Street to 16th Street, where he saw Berry have a conversation with medics.
Then, he said, medics wheeled over a gurney and lifted Morris onto it without stabilizing her neck, while Berry placed a jacket over her face.
The medics were identified as Teresa Height and Steve McCarthy.
Berry, however, told the PAC that Officer Michael Givens blocked westbound traffic on the 1500 block of Walnut during the time that Brennan said he drove west to 16th Street.
The PAC never resolved the conflicting testimony.
But in April, the PAC asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Morris case.
DOJ officials hadn’t replied to the request at presstime.
Givens didn’t give a statement to the PAC, and no evidence corroborating Berry’s testimony about the traffic flow has been released.
Police spokesperson Lt. John Stanford told PGN the department wasn’t “able to grant that request to have [Berry and Givens] speak on the case in detail at this time.”
Advocates for Morris have expressed concern that Berry falsified his testimony to impugn Brennan’s credibility.
Brennan came forward after he read an article that Morris lived for two more days.
PAC members asked Brennan why he thought Morris was dead at 16th and Walnut.
“The lack of emergency lights on the vehicles,” Brennan replied. “There seemed to be a lack of urgency in tending to the situation. The fact that there was nobody tending to her during the time that I was there. And the fact that the jacket was placed on her face.”
Berry testified that he couldn’t recall anyone placing a jacket over Morris’ face.
Berry also told the PAC he never left Morris’ side until medics placed her on a gurney.
“I stayed with her the whole time,” Berry testified.
But Brennan said the officer left Morris unattended for several minutes while speaking with medics in the ambulance.
In his PAC testimony, Berry estimated medics spent fewer than 10 minutes with Morris prior to transporting her to Jefferson University Hospital.
“Rescue showed up,” Berry testified. “They came right over. They asked me what happened. They had their stretcher with them, and they took Miss Morris straight to the hospital.”
But Berry’s testimony is contradicted by 911 recordings indicating that medics remained at the scene for 34 minutes.
Also on the tapes, motorist Oscar Padilla is heard diverting traffic prior to Berry’s arrival.
There’s no indication on the tapes that Givens assisted.
Local authorities claim to have no 911 recordings in their Morris investigative files.
Rich Wilson, chair of the Justice for Nizah committee, said a federal probe could clarify several issues in the case, including the jacket incident.
“The 911 tapes raise fair questions about the case that local authorities have refused to deal with,” Wilson said. “A federal probe could get to the bottom of what happened.”
PAC chair Ronda B. Goldfein agreed.
“The PAC has limited resources,” Goldfein said. “We have two investigators. We couldn’t possibly dedicate the resources that would be necessary to do the investigation justice. That’s why we suggested that entities with more resources take a look at it.”