Questions still remain about transgender death
By Timothy Cwiek
PGN Writer-at-Large
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News

When the city’s Police Advisory Commission issued its report on the Nizah Morris case earlier this month, the group emphasized that no evidence was found to implicate police officers in her death.

Morris, 47, was a transgender woman who was discovered with a fatal head injury shortly after receiving a courtesy ride from police in December 2002. The homicide remains unsolved.

In its report, the PAC also noted that “many circumstances surrounding the death of Nizah Morris remain unresolved.”

Relatives of Morris say the lingering questions mentioned by the PAC and others make it difficult to reach closure in the matter.

DIDONATO’S ROUTE

Officer Elizabeth DiDonato said she gave Morris a courtesy ride from Juniper and Chancellor streets to 15th and Walnut streets, during the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2002.

To return to her division, DiDonato could have taken a two-block route — making a left onto 15th Street and then another left onto Locust Street.

Yet police say DiDonato took a prolonged route back to her division, via 16th Street, Market Street, up around City Hall — ending at 13th and Filbert streets, where she made a car stop.

When questioned last December, DiDonato told the PAC she could not recall the route she took to return to her division — though she acknowledged re-enacting the route for investigators back in 2003.

Advocates for Morris hope a fuller explanation of DiDonato’s return route will be available in the future.

NOVAK’S ROLE IN COURTESY RIDE

Officer Kenneth Novak, the lead officer on the Morris assignment, said he stopped his official involvement with the case at 3:15 a.m., when he heard DiDonato tell a dispatcher she was “gonna drop [Morris] off” at 15th and Walnut streets.

But Novak also told investigators he still tried to catch up with DiDonato, in case she needed any help, even though his responsibility for the job had ended.

If that is the case, relatives of Morris cannot understand why Novak didn’t coordinate his movements with DiDonato, since both officers’ police radios were working.

Also under scrutiny are the officers’ patrol logs, which state that DiDonato and Novak began working on a car stop at 3:30 a.m., shortly after the Morris ride ended.

In question is how the officers could have coordinated their movements so well for the car stop but not for the courtesy ride.

Novak said he knew nothing about Morris’ head injury until later that morning, when he was called to Jefferson University Hospital to investigate Morris as a possible crime victim.

DiDonato also went to the hospital to assist in the investigation. Inexplicably, Novak said he didn’t ask DiDonato any questions about the ride. Novak also filed no report about his investigation. Instead, Novak noted in his patrol log that Officer Thomas Berry already had written a report about the incident.

BERRY’S ROLE IN COURTESY RIDE

Officer Thomas Berry said he offered to help Morris out of DiDonato’s car, on the 1400 block of Walnut Street, shortly before the ride ended.

A few minutes later, after looping around Rittenhouse Square, Berry said he spotted Morris again, this time with a head injury at 16th and Walnut streets.

Berry recognized the unconscious Morris as the person who was inside DiDonato’s car, and believed she was simply a drunk person who had passed out.

Berry did write a report, describing Morris as a “hospital case,” a drunk person with a cut on her head who needed to go to the hospital. Berry made no mention of the courtesy ride in his report.

According to police directives, Berry wasn’t required to write a report because he did not suspect any foul play.

This question remains: If Berry felt the need to write a report, why did he leave out the fact that Morris was inside a police vehicle minutes earlier?

For Novak’s part, why did he feel that Berry’s very limited report was sufficient documentation?

Perhaps most disturbing to Morris’ family is that none of the officers made an effort to contact them, even though Morris easily could have been identified through fingerprinting and Novak acknowledged being familiar with Morris.

As a result, Morris died alone at Jefferson Hospital, 64 hours after arriving there.

Timothy Cwiek can be reached at (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.