Attorney Michael L. Doyle says he’ll subpoena the city for the police Internal Affairs file pertaining to the Nizah Morris incident.
Doyle’s client, Richard Patterson, stands accused of driving while under the influence of alcohol when he allegedly sideswiped another vehicle in Center City in May 2002.
Elizabeth Skala was the responding officer and arrested Patterson on suspicion of DUI, according to court records.
Seven months later, Skala gave Nizah Morris a Center City “courtesy ride.” Within minutes, the transwoman was found by passing motorists with a fatal head injury.
Patterson failed to show up for a subsequent court proceeding, and a bench warrant was issued, though it wasn’t served.
In July 2014, Patterson attended a social event in South Philadelphia that became disorderly. Police were summoned, and after Patterson presented proof of his identity, he was arrested due to the pending DUI charge.
His trial was scheduled to be held Nov. 3.
Skala entered the courtroom in street clothes, chewing gum while waiting for the Patterson case to be called. But after three hours, prosecutors told Municipal Court Judge Harvey W. Robbins they needed more time to review materials related to the case.
Robbins postponed the matter until 10 a.m. Dec. 1 in Room 903 of the Criminal Justice Center, 1301 Filbert St.
Outside the courtroom, Doyle said having the complete Internal Affairs file of the Morris incident will put him in a better position to defend his client.
He noted that Skala underwent additional police training due to the Morris incident.
“There are questions about Officer Skala’s competency when evaluating the impairment of Nizah Morris,” Doyle told PGN. “If she needed re-training following the Nizah Morris incident, how could she have been competently trained at the time she arrested my client?”
Patterson, who also was in the courtroom, faces significant jail time if convicted.
Skala has been prepared to testify for several months, but the matter has been postponed three times.
She’s been off of street patrol for several years, and reportedly works in the police commissioner’s office.
Doyle has provided prosecutors two Police Advisory Commission reports about the Morris incident, along with Skala’s 2006 PAC testimony.
Outside the courtroom, he noted Skala’s “cavalier” way of filling out patrol-activity logs.
In her PAC testimony, Doyle said, Skala acknowledged sometimes filling in log entries at the end of her shift, rather than contemporaneously as per police directives.
Skala denied any culpability in Morris’ homicide. But the PAC’s 2013 Morris report raised multiple questions about her credibility.
For example, onlookers told the PAC they helped Morris into Skala’s vehicle, because she couldn’t stand or walk unassisted. Yet Skala testified that nobody was at the scene except her and Morris, and that Morris could enter and exit her vehicle without assistance.
Morris died two days after the courtesy ride, and her homicide remains unsolved.
Two male officers also responded to Morris on the morning of her head injury, Kenneth Novak and Thomas Berry.
Questions about their credibility also have been raised, partly because their Morris paperwork was based on the supposition that no one summoned medics for Morris prior to her head injury — which wasn’t true.
Both officers are assigned to street-patrol duties, a police spokesperson said.
Patterson remains free after posting $5,000 bail.
If Patterson isn’t satisfied with the outcome of a municipal court trial, he’s permitted to appeal in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
Advocates for Morris want a state probe of her homicide. But Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane hasn’t yet agreed to review the case.