Lawyers told to apologize for blasting recorded screams in a Philly neighborhood

A federal judge says lawyers must formally apologize for blaring a looped recording of a woman screaming last month as a test in a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia

Lawyers who blared a looped recording of a woman screaming as a test in their civil rights lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia must apologize in person and in writing to residents where the loud test took place, a federal judge ordered last week.

U.S. Judge John F. Murphy on Thursday described the hour-long predawn test on Sept. 23 as lacking foresight and judgment, resulting in “a deeply disturbing and potentially dangerous situation.” He gave the lawyers who oversaw the loudspeaker's recorded screaming in south Philadelphia until the end of October to apologize to people who live nearby, about a block from the South Broad Street and Passyunk Avenue intersection.

“It was so jarring,” neighbor Rachel Robbins told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It was just really awful.”

The lawyers represent a man who is suing the city and several officers over his arrest, conviction and 19 years in prison for sexual assault before the conviction was vacated in 2020. The man was shot by police three times at the scene.

At issue in the lawsuit is whether the man, who said he was trying to help the victim in the case, could have heard the woman's screams from two blocks away.

The loudspeaker was set up near row homes and a day care center that was preparing to open for the day. Murphy wrote that neighbors were upset, with some watching children go into the day care facility while the recording was played.

“Plaintiff counsel's disregard for community members fell short of the ethical standards by which all attorneys practicing in this district must abide,” the judge wrote.

The apology must explain “their transgression,” Murphy wrote, and take “full responsibility for the repercussions of the scream test.”

A phone message seeking comment was left Tuesday for the lawyers who represent the man suing the city.