Mayor responds to Black Lives Matter protest at police officer’s home

Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney responded to a evening protest, held Thursday in front of the Bustleton home of the officer responsible for the death of David Jones, saying the effort did nothing to help push police-community relations forward in Philadelphia. 

In a statement released Friday, the mayor thanked the officer who responded to Thursday’s protest and said that there are many in the city working to build police-community trust. But, the protest along a quiet residential street, he said, “did nothing to move those efforts forward.” 

The mayor’s full statement is included below:

“I thank the Philadelphia Police officers who peacefully defused last night’s event. There are many Philadelphians and officers who are productively working to build police-community trust, including pushing for transparency and reform which Commissioner Ross and I both agree must continue. What happened last night did nothing to move those efforts forward.”

On Thursday night, several activists with the Black Lives Matter movement decended on the residential block of Bridle Road in Northeast Philly, in front of the home of  Philadelphia Police officer Ryan Pownall, in a protest calling for the arrest the man responsible for the June 8th shooting death of David Jones. 

Jones was fatally shot in the back after a scuffle over a gun, after Pownall stopped Jones while seeing him riding a dirt bike erratically near the intersection of Whitaker and Hunting Park Avenues in Juniata Park, claims a police report on Jones’ death.

The incident is currently being investigated by the Office of the Attorney General Josh Shapiro.