A Philly judge dismissed charges against a cop accused of beating a mother in front of her child amid 2020 unrest
Prosecutors quickly refiled charges against Darren Kardos, who is accused of participating in the beating of Rickia Young in West Philadelphia.
An earlier version of this article suggested that another officer, Sgt. David Chisholm, was also fired in connection with the Rickia Young incident. However, Chisholm was fired in connection with a separate unrelated incident that was part of the broader response to the unrest in West Philadelphia that night. Chisholm faced no criminal charges and was later reinstated following an arbitration hearing.
A Philadelphia judge dismissed all charges Friday against a former city police officer accused of participating in the beating of a 28-year-old mother during civil unrest in October 2020 — but prosecutors quickly refiled the case to bring it back to court.
The development came as Darren Kardos, 43, was set to be tried on counts including simple assault and reckless endangerment over the beating of Rickia Young, a Black home health-care aide from North Philadelphia who said she was driving to pick up her teenage nephew in West Philadelphia in October 2020, when she attacked by officers and pulled from her car after inadvertently getting caught between police and people protesting in the area.
Police also separated her from her toddler, which contributed to the incident attracting national attention and criticism.
Prosecutors said Friday that a key witness — another police officer — did not show up to testify after being subpoenaed, making it impossible for them to try Kardos. Young was not in court either, but Assistant District Attorney Lyandra Retacco said prosecutors had video evidence to put the case on without her testimony.
Still, with crucial witnesses unavailable, Kardos’ attorney, Coley Reynolds, asked Municipal Court Judge Henry Lewandowski III to dismiss the case. Lewandowski agreed, even as he acknowledged prosecutors were likely to refile the charges — making the dismissal something of a procedural step as opposed to a final resolution.
“I can confirm,” Assistant District Attorney Lyandra Retacco quickly responded. “We will refile.”
The office did so by Friday afternoon, Retacco said.
Kardos was in the courtroom but did not comment.
Kardos, a seven-year veteran who worked in the 19th Police District, was the only officer to face charges over the beating of Young, which involved scores of other police. The incident happened in October 2020, hours after other officers fatally shot 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man who relatives said was experiencing a mental health crisis and had lunged toward police while wielding a knife.
Protests erupted within hours, and some in West Philadelphia began burglarizing stores and vandalizing police vehicles. As police responded to the unrest, a group of them encountered Young’s SUV on Chestnut Street. Video showed scores of officers surrounding the car, bashing in the windows, pulling Young and a passenger out of the vehicle, striking them, and then removing a 2-year-old from the backseat.
Prosecutors said Kardos used his metal baton to bash in Young’s windows, and then pulled her out of the car by her hair, after which officers struck her with fists and batons.
Young said she had been driving to pick up her 16-year-old nephew at a friend’s house before she encountered a police barricade. After being pulled from her car and beaten, she said, she was detained in a police van, driven to Police Headquarters, then taken to the hospital and handcuffed to the bed. She was never charged.
Her toddler, meanwhile, was found by her mother hours later with police in a cruiser near the Department of Human Services offices in Center City.
The case attracted national attention, and the city later agreed to pay Young $2 million to settle a lawsuit. Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said afterward that the officers involved had “terrorized” Young, and Mayor Jim Kenney called the officers’ actions “absolutely appalling.”
Kardos was fired for excessive use of force and physical abuse with a baton.
Prosecutors charged Kardos last year. He had been free on bail while awaiting trial.