Charles Patton, MOVE commission aide and youth mentor

Charles Patton, 70, of East Oak Lane, a retired Philadelphia police lieutenant and an investigator for the MOVE commission who founded a mentoring organization for black youths, died Wednesday at Albert Einstein Medical Center of complications from a fall at home.

Mr. Patton joined the Police Department in 1960. He was promoted to sergeant in 1965 and to lieutenant in 1968.

For seven years, as the civil-disobedience squad's second in command under Inspector George Fencl, he supervised crowd control at demonstrations. He kept police officers in line even when demonstrators shouted abuse at them, said Acel Moore, then an Inquirer reporter.

"One time he caught a pickpocket and cuffed him before I even knew what was going on," said Moore, associate editor emeritus at The Inquirer.

In 1975, Mr. Patton and eight other officers founded Concerned Black Men, which was designed to organize social events for boys at risk for gang violence. The men each put up $100 to fund a dance in North Philadelphia that they chaperoned.

Concerned Black Men has grown into a national youth and parent mentoring organization that sponsors sports programs, chess teams, cultural activities, college visits, and a scholarship fund. Since 2004, Mr. Patton had been executive director of the Philadelphia chapter. He was preparing to go to the chapter office in West Oak Lane when he fell, said his daughter, Carla.

Mr. Patton retired from the department in March 1984. Fourteen months later, a police helicopter dropped a bomb on the West Philadelphia headquarters of the radical group MOVE. Six adults and five children died, and 61 homes were destroyed by fire.

When a commission was established to investigate, Mr. Patton applied for a position as an investigator and was hired by the commission's chief counsel, William B. Lytton.

"As a former civil-affairs officer, Charlie knew players on both sides of the equation," Lytton said. "He was absolutely invaluable and a tremendous resource. He sat behind me at the commission hearings, and whenever I needed a document he would come up with it in immediately."

Inquirer editor William K. Marimow, who reported on the MOVE commission hearings for the newspaper, said: "Charlie had a keen, analytical mind with an encyclopedic memory and a treasure trove of sources built up from his career as a police officer and his life in Philadelphia. Equally important, he was a man of bedrock integrity. If Charlie told you something, you could bank on it."

The commission's report, issued in March 1986, found that city officials had acted with "reckless disregard for life and property" and that dropping a bomb on an occupied rowhouse was "unconscionable."

When a jury awarded damages to MOVE survivors in 1996, Mr. Patton told an Inquirer reporter: "I couldn't see any juror not saying there's something negligent in the city dropping a bomb on a rowhouse in the city of Philadelphia. Someone in the city administration should have said, 'Hold it. Stop. Don't even take that initial step!' "

Mr. Patton went on to become an investigator for the law firm Kohn, Savett, Klein & Graf, which is now Kohn, Swift & Graf. From 1992 until retiring in 2004, he was an investigator and a jury consultant with the Dechert law firm in Philadelphia.

While with the Kohn firm, Mr. Patton was an investigator in a libel case involving Inquirer investigative reporter Daniel Biddle. When lawyers on both sides wanted Biddle to divulge the name of a confidential informant, Mr. Patton urged him not to.

From his years as a police officer, "Charlie believed you don't give up your snitch," said Biddle, who didn't divulge his source and ultimately won the case.

Mr. Patton grew up with four siblings, all of whom went on to careers in public service. He graduated from Camden High School and then served in the Air Force.

After his discharge, he joined the Police Department. While on the force, he earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University and a master's degree in human services from Lincoln University.

Mr. Patton won contests for his black-and-white photographs and loved listening to jazz. He enjoyed home-improvement projects and barbecuing for family and friends, his daughter said.

In addition to her, he is survived by his wife of 49 years, Carol Mabry Patton; a son, Christopher; two grandsons; a brother; and two sisters.

Friends may call after 9 a.m. Wednesday at St. Athanasius Church, 2050 E. Walnut Lane, where a tribute will begin at 10:30 and a Funeral Mass will be said at 11. Burial will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Cheltenham.