PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A former Philadelphia police officer accused of assaulting a mother driving through West Philadelphia during civil unrest in 2020 has been found not guilty of all criminal charges against him.
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Judge Francis McCloskey Jr. acquitted Darren Kardos of simple assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and possession of an instrument in a crime after an hours-long bench trial, saying he heard “just conclusions without facts.” He had also dismissed official oppression and unsworn falsification charges early Monday afternoon.
Prosecutors argued Kardos struck Rickia Young in the face with a baton on October 27, 2020, as unrest unfolded near 52nd and Market streets hours after other officers shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old Black man whose family said was having a mental health crisis when he moved toward police while holding a knife.
They said Young was in her car with her 2-year-old son and 16-year-old nephew when she got turned around because several streets had been blocked off, and she ended up in the middle of a crowd of police officers.
They told the court Kardos used his baton to punch out the tinted windows of Young’s car, which went “beyond his duty.” They called half a dozen officers to testify about the chaotic scene, and they played videos from body-worn cameras, surveillance cameras and social media that show officers surrounding her car.
Oct. 27, 2020: The incident was captured on video
The defense argued they never showed a close up of when Kardos allegedly used his baton to strike Young. The prosecution did, however, show Young with a bloody lip, in handcuffs.
Officers testified they came upon the car, and a few noticed a toddler in the backseat. One police officer testified he sprayed pepper spray, and then noticed there was a teenager and a toddler inside the car at the time. Both Young and her teenage nephew were handcuffed — and at one point in the video, the teen can be heard repeatedly saying “I didn’t do nothing.”
An internal affairs report showed six other police officers violated the department’s use of force policy, including one who was accused of throwing rocks at the protestors, but no one else was charged but Kardos.
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Defense attorney Coley Reynolds argued Kardos used his baton to get the driver out, because he couldn’t see, and that it happened shortly after another officer had been hit by a car nearby.
The judge concluded that prosecutors had not shown enough evidence to prove that Kardos struck Young with his baton in the chaos. And, he noted, neither she nor her teenage nephew testified at Kardos’ criminal trial, which made it hard for prosecutors to prove their case.
“I think the judge realized that based on the totality of the circumstances that Officer Kardos was reasonable with what he did,” said Reynolds. “To not think of, and not consider what had gone on that night — from the officer being run over, to the truck pushing through the line — to not consider what any officer would be thinking in that situation by the DA’s office, and the decision to charge here, were just wrong and I think the judge showed that today.”
In 2021, the city reached a settlement with Young's lawyers and agreed to pay her $2 million, avoiding a lawsuit.
Reynolds says Kardos is now going to try to get his job back.
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