Although a medical examiner determined that the death of a Black man who officers shocked several times with a Taser was an accident, the city’s first Black mayor rested the blame squarely on the shoulders of the officers involved. Mayor Ed Gainey announced that five of the officers were fired and three were reinstated, in a news conference Wednesday that marked the first time Gainey offered his personal opinion, according to CBS-affiliated KDKA.
“Jim Rogers deserved to live a long life,” Gainey said. “He didn’t deserve to lose his life at the hands of city police officers.”
RELATED STORY: Yet another video comes out showing police officer brutalizing high school students with principal
Warning: This video contains disturbing footage of Jim Rogers being shocked with a Taser gun.
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Officers were responding to a reported bicycle theft last October when they were called to Bloomfield, a neighborhood about three miles northeast of downtown Pittsburgh. When they arrived, officers encountered Rogers, 54, and arrested him. Rogers was described as non-compliant but not violent, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rogers was also described as homeless, and neighbors told the Post-Gazette he took the bike for a ride when the person who stole it and had been unable to sell it left it for anyone's use. Multiple officers responded to the scene before police took Rogers into custody.
He didn’t receive medical care on the scene and it took nearly 40 minutes for him to be taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Mercy, where he died after arriving unconscious, KDKA reported.
“Today sets us on a pathway to improve police-community relations,” Gainey said. “We need to work together to honor the memory of Jim Rogers to make a fair and equitable city for us all.”
Listen to Berkeley Law professor Ian Haney Lopez discuss race and how different kinds of conversations about race are perceived by different groups of people on Daily Kos’ The Brief podcast
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The terminated officers will have the option to retire; they have been on paid leave during the city’s internal investigation. Although the city has not released their identities to the public, WPXI identified the fired officers as Keith Edmonds, who used the Taser against Rogers; Sgt. Colby Neidig, a supervisor on the scene; Neyib Velazquez; and Greg Boss and Pat Desaro, who drove Rogers to the hospital.
Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt told KDKA he approved discipline against the officers but would not release the findings of a disciplinary panel earlier this year.
Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Pittsburgh police union Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), told KDKA on Wednesday that the officers plan to seek an appeal of the decision and have their cases heard by an arbitrator. “At the conclusion of that case, it will determine if the discipline will be upheld, modified, or even eliminated,” Swartzwelder said.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala has not charged the officers involved in Rogers' arrest and instead is leaving what if any criminal charges that result in the hands of a grand jury. That Allegheny County jury last met on Thursday when subpoenaed Pittsburgh officers and supervisors were questioned in private proceedings. The officers' attorneys mostly refused to comment, according to Pittsburgh Action News.
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Casey White, who is representing officer Leroy Schrock, told the news station he’d “rather not comment specifically on why we're here today."
"We were sworn to secrecy as far as the proceedings that took place today,” White said. “So at this point, I'm going to abide by the rules that were prescribed by Judge (Alexander) Bicket."
While Zappala has decided to lean heavily on the grand jury, ultimately charging the officers involved in Rogers’ arrest is his decision to make, Pittsburgh Action News reported.
Rogers’ family said in a statement KDKA obtained that there is “nothing respectable or just about a process that takes six months to fire officers who committed a murder.”
“Up until recently these officers were still being paid by the city, yet the Rogers family continues to grieve and does not have justice,” the family said in the statement.
“Jim Rogers deserved to live a long life,” Gainey said. “He didn’t deserve to lose his life at the hands of city police officers.”
RELATED STORY: Yet another video comes out showing police officer brutalizing high school students with principal
Warning: This video contains disturbing footage of Jim Rogers being shocked with a Taser gun.
YouTube Video
Officers were responding to a reported bicycle theft last October when they were called to Bloomfield, a neighborhood about three miles northeast of downtown Pittsburgh. When they arrived, officers encountered Rogers, 54, and arrested him. Rogers was described as non-compliant but not violent, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rogers was also described as homeless, and neighbors told the Post-Gazette he took the bike for a ride when the person who stole it and had been unable to sell it left it for anyone's use. Multiple officers responded to the scene before police took Rogers into custody.
He didn’t receive medical care on the scene and it took nearly 40 minutes for him to be taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Mercy, where he died after arriving unconscious, KDKA reported.
“Today sets us on a pathway to improve police-community relations,” Gainey said. “We need to work together to honor the memory of Jim Rogers to make a fair and equitable city for us all.”
Listen to Berkeley Law professor Ian Haney Lopez discuss race and how different kinds of conversations about race are perceived by different groups of people on Daily Kos’ The Brief podcast
Embedded Content
The terminated officers will have the option to retire; they have been on paid leave during the city’s internal investigation. Although the city has not released their identities to the public, WPXI identified the fired officers as Keith Edmonds, who used the Taser against Rogers; Sgt. Colby Neidig, a supervisor on the scene; Neyib Velazquez; and Greg Boss and Pat Desaro, who drove Rogers to the hospital.
Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt told KDKA he approved discipline against the officers but would not release the findings of a disciplinary panel earlier this year.
Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Pittsburgh police union Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), told KDKA on Wednesday that the officers plan to seek an appeal of the decision and have their cases heard by an arbitrator. “At the conclusion of that case, it will determine if the discipline will be upheld, modified, or even eliminated,” Swartzwelder said.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala has not charged the officers involved in Rogers' arrest and instead is leaving what if any criminal charges that result in the hands of a grand jury. That Allegheny County jury last met on Thursday when subpoenaed Pittsburgh officers and supervisors were questioned in private proceedings. The officers' attorneys mostly refused to comment, according to Pittsburgh Action News.
YouTube Video
Casey White, who is representing officer Leroy Schrock, told the news station he’d “rather not comment specifically on why we're here today."
"We were sworn to secrecy as far as the proceedings that took place today,” White said. “So at this point, I'm going to abide by the rules that were prescribed by Judge (Alexander) Bicket."
While Zappala has decided to lean heavily on the grand jury, ultimately charging the officers involved in Rogers’ arrest is his decision to make, Pittsburgh Action News reported.
Rogers’ family said in a statement KDKA obtained that there is “nothing respectable or just about a process that takes six months to fire officers who committed a murder.”
“Up until recently these officers were still being paid by the city, yet the Rogers family continues to grieve and does not have justice,” the family said in the statement.