PAL honors child victim

It’s an honor that no parent would ever seek for her child — but one Elizabeth Cutner received all the same.

A new Police Athletic League center has opened at 20th and Catharine streets, named for Cutner’s daughter, Michelle.

On a June day in 1994, Michelle Cutner was walking home from Chester A. Arthur Elementary, where she was a first-grader, when a stray bullet struck and killed her.

Cutner lived on the 1900 block of Carpenter Street, just blocks from the new center.

At an April 30 grand-opening ceremony of the Michelle Cutner PAL Center, the victim’s mother watched as Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson and PAL Chairman of the Board Bill Whiteside unveiled a sign that would hang outside the facility.

The center is on the premises of Arthur Elementary. PAL officials and the School District of Philadelphia decided to open a facility there after plans fell through for one at Vare Elementary, Morris Street and Moyamensing Avenue, said the district’s Michael Johnson.

Johnson, assistant to CEO Paul Vallas, also serves on the PAL board as a school district representative.

Familiar with Cutner’s story, Johnson suggested to PAL commanding officer Lt. Susan Swanson that the new facility be named in the victim’s honor.

Johnson, who was reared in one of the roughest housing projects in Chicago’s notorious West Side, said he knows firsthand the pain street violence causes.

"I grew up in a neighborhood that was affected by gangs and drugs. I had seen a lot of young people lost to violence," he said. "It feels good when you can honor somebody by building positive programs for young people. Maybe Michelle would still be alive today if there had been a PAL afterschool program in that neighborhood."

Cutner’s admitted killer, Jerome Whitaker — just 16 at the time of the shooting — reportedly got into an argument with another teen about an afterschool ride.

Whitaker told the youth he was going to shoot up his car if he didn’t get the ride. He made good on that threat, and one of the bullets he fired at the car struck Cutner.

It was June 29 — the next-to-last day of school.

Cutner had been running along the sidewalk, carrying a small bag of potato chips, when she was shot in her left side, police said.

That same day, police arrested Whitaker — also a resident of the 1900 block of Carpenter.

In May 1995, Whitaker pleaded guilty to murder and a host of other charges in Common Pleas Court. He was committed to a state correctional facility in Greensburg, where he is serving a total of 11-25 years for third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime and aggravated assault, said state prisons spokesperson Sue McNaughton.

PAL officials hope to prevent other children from becoming victims of violence.

"One of the purposes of PAL is to be a safe haven for our young people, when they have no place else to go so they can get off the streets," Swanson said.

The Michelle Cutner PAL Center furthers the school district’s ongoing commitment to developing afterschool programs throughout the city, added Johnson.

Open from 3-9 p.m. during the school year and all day in the summer, PAL centers serve as neighborhood gathering places for youths.

In addition to a broad range of athletics, PAL has expanded in recent years to include educational and cultural activities such as homework clubs, computer labs, field trips and more.

The Michelle Cutner PAL holds the distinction of being the first PAL center in Philadelphia to be named in honor of a crime victim, said Swanson.

An enlarged photograph of Cutner will be hung in the gymnasium along with a banner, added the lieutenant.

"We wanted to do this so [Elizabeth Cutner’s] daughter’s memory would not die. So often our young people are murdered, and six months, a year goes by and people forget," she said. "Just like with our history — if you forget, you’re going to repeat the same thing."

After PAL’s board approved the idea to name its 25th center after Cutner, one final step remained.

Because the Cutners moved out of South Philly immediately after Michelle’s death, Slawson had a bit of trouble tracking them down to get their approval.

When she finally located them, they loved the idea.

"She was overwhelmed," the lieutenant said of Elizabeth, who still chooses not to talk publicly about her loss. "The day of the actual ceremony, she was so moved that someone remembered and thought enough of her little girl to keep her memory alive."