Miles, a violist who attends Pittsburgh's prestigious Creative and Performing Arts High School, claims theofficers beat him without provocation, then concocted a story that he was acting suspiciously to justify the confrontation.

A criminal complaint says Miles was standing against a building "as if he was trying to avoid being seen." A police affidavit says officers saw something heavy in Miles pocket and believed he was carrying a gun -which police said turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew. Miles has said he didn't have the soda before he was punched, kicked and had dreadlocks pulled from his scalp.

Saldutte testified that officers identified themselves before approaching Miles because he was acting suspiciously, and that a struggle ensued when he tried to run away.

Miles has said he resisted only because officers didn't identify themselves as police, and he thought he was being attacked.

Lewis,his attorney, said the testimony of Saldutte - who is a martial arts instructor - wasn't credible because he claimed he didn't pull out a large patch of Miles' hair and said he didn't see the other officers do that either.

"So his hair just fell out, I guess," Lewis said.

Saldutte said he didn't keep the soda bottle that police claimed Miles was carrying because "it wasn't evidence," Lewis said.

The attorney said Miles has passed a lie detector test as part of the FBI's investigation into possible civil rights violations in the case. A Pittsburgh FBI spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment on that investigation.

Terez Miles said she was pleased the charges were dropped against her son, and said she hoped the police officers go to jail for what they did.

"They beat my son unmercifully; it amounts to torture," she said.

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