Hold up, wait a minute. How in the world would a Philadelphia Judge find a former Philadelphia Police officer not guilty of beating a woman with his nightstick during the height of the act of civil disobedience in Philadelphia in October 2020? There’s video footage of the former police officer in question, then-Officer Darren Kardos, dragging the woman from her car and beating her, along with several other Philly cops. Mind you, the woman had her 2-year-old child in the vehicle at the time, so that baby had to witness all this craziness while his mother was being beat down.
Officer Darren Kardos was found not guilty on all charges in connection with the beating. This particular incident drew national attention and had all eyes on Philadelphia once again, and not in a positive way.
The 28-year-old mother, whom I will describe as the victim, was separated from her child for several hours immediately following the incident, bringing more trauma, I would imagine, to both Mom and baby.
The trial was a one-day bench trial, and at the end of the day, Municipal Court Judge Francis W. McCloskey Jr. found that there just was not enough evidence to do anything but let the officer off easy. Despite the fact that everything was videotaped, the incident, according to the Judge, was not specific or clear enough to prove that Officer Kardos did anything wrong.
According to the Judge, the video footage he saw shows a number of Philadelphia police officers involved in the situation with the young mother being beat down. No other officers were charged, and again, the Judge is saying that he could not see clearly that Officer Kardos was the officer who hit her in the face with a billystick.
The victim, Ms. Young, unfortunately, for whatever reasons, chose not to testify. I sure wish that she had. Because she did not testify, the Judge further used that as another reason why he made the judgment that he made in court on Monday.
Prosecutors involved with the case accused former Officer Kardos of “crossing the line.” When the police encountered Ms. Young on October 27, 2020, they were trying to get control of the area around 52nd and Chestnut Streets. Area residents who were upset about the murder of 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man who was having a mental health breakdown earlier in the day, started ,…
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