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By Dana R Pico Posted in Law — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The Philadelphia Police Department has identified the man they believe murdered Officer Charles "Chuck" Cassidy last Wednesday, and a warrant for his arrest has been issued. The Philadelphia Inquirer naturally had a couple of stories on the warrant, including the suspect's prior record.

A drug record, but no violence¹
By Jan Hefler, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer

John Lewis, who became the target yesterday in a massive manhunt for the killer of a Philadelphia police officer, has been in trouble with the law three times in the last three years.

The 21-year-old North Philadelphia man, who uses the aliases Lewis Jordan and Jordan Lewis, was arrested in 2005 on charges of possession of drugs and possession with intent to distribute. He was placed in a treatment program that he completed in February. The drug charges and a 2006 charge of attempted theft were then withdrawn.

In February, Lewis was arrested again on drug charges. That case is pending.

On Sunday, a warrant was issued for his arrest for the killing of Officer Cassidy, and Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson warned that the suspect is "armed and extremely dangerous." Mr Lewis is a high school dropout who lived with his mother, Lynn Dyches, a city corrections officer.

Former Mayor Rudolf Giuliani is credited with cleaning up New York City, in significant part by having the police and prosecution treat every crime seriously. The theory was that if they were aggressive against the petty criminals, they'd get them off the streets before they became not-so-petty criminals.

Unfortunately, in the City of Brotherly Love, Mayor John Street's administration, including Police Commissioner Johnson and District Attorney Lynne Abraham, apparently think that law enforcement is like fishing: if the fish they catch is too small, they just throw it back into the water.

Well, if we assume that Mr Lewis actually is the killer, the city's "catch and release" program is directly responsible for the murder of Officer Cassidy. Mr Lewis was arrested in 2005 for drug charges, including possession with intent to distribute. In other words, he was a drug dealer. Rather than do the right thing, and prosecute him to the full extent of the law, they offered him a treatment program, and when he completed it, they not only dropped the charges, but dismissed charges, including attempted theft, committed subsequently. Then, in February of this year, he got busted again on drug charges, but on October 31st, Mr Lewis was still out on the streets.

What about the gun? The police say that his mother's 9 mm was used; she is a corrections officer, and is not only legally allowed to have a firearm, but it's a requirement for her job. Her son, who lives with her, supposedly took her handgun, and used it to rob the Dunkin' Donuts -- and kill Officer Cassidy. The gun was legally owned, but the obvious question arises: how is it that Lynn Dyches was allowed to take her firearm home if her son had been in frequent trouble with the law? Didn't anyone check? Did no one ask? Didn't the District Attorney's office know that Mr Lewis lived with his mother, and that she was a corrections officer? After all, it didn't take the Inquirer all that long to discover this. After three arrests, after at least some time dealing with prosecution, how could the city not have known that Mr Lewis, who had been treated leniently before and who was, at the time of the shooting, under prosecution, was living with a corrections officer who had a gun in the home?

If it turns out that Mr Lewis is in fact the man who murdered Officer Cassidy, then the murder is at least partially the fault of a city which does not treat "minor" crimes seriously, and a District Attorney's office that didn't do its job. Even if Mr Lewis is not the man who killed the officer, the story still points out the fact that the city leaders are not doing their jobs, because John Lewis should never have been out on the streets.
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¹ - The Philadelphia Inquirer, Monday, November 5, 2007, page A-1
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Cross posted on Common Sense Political Thought.