by Sarah J. McCarthy

About the author: Sarah J. McCarthy is a freelance writer.

Jonny Gammage died on the night of October 12, 1995, in front of Frank and Shirley’s pancake parlor, just three miles from my home. Jonny was a black man, a cousin and business partner of Pittsburgh Steeler Ray Seals, and he died in the custody of five white suburban policemen who had pulled him over for a minor traffic violation. Gammage’s last words, according to Whitehall police Sgt. Keith Henderson, were the unforgettable words of a man who feared for his life. “Keith, Keith, I’m only 31,” he begged as he lay prone on the ground, the officers holding him down. A few minutes later he was dead of suffocation from the pressure applied to his...