Family of Jim Rogers sues city, officers over stun gun death
The family of a man who died after a stun gun was repeatedly used on him by Pittsburgh police has filed a lawsuit against the city and multiple officers and EMS personnel.
The incident happened last year in Bloomfield when police responded to a report that Jim Rogers had stolen a bike.
The lawsuit said Rogers had a long history of mental illness, and he was unarmed at the time.
According to the lawsuit, Officer Keith Edmonds used a stun gun Rogers nine or 10 times. Rogers repeatedly requested medical help but no officers or EMS personnel responded.
The lawsuit says officers failed to take Rogers to nearby West Penn Hospital and instead headed toward jail. He was eventually taken to Mercy Hospital, where he died the next day.
"Officer Edmonds' brutal attack on Mr. Rogers through the repeated use of a taser on an unarmed, nonviolent, older gentleman was without cause or justification and undertaken recklessly, wantonly and with gross negligence," the lawsuit says.
Law professor Bruce Antkowiak of St. Vincent College said officers will likely argue that they had to make a split-second decision before tasing Rogers.
"The argument becomes, it's very difficult to judge in the calm light of day what the officer had to face in that moment," Antkowiak said.
He said he expects the lawsuit to be put on hold until a grand jury finishes its criminal investigation.
"The results of the grand jury investigation could provide invaluable information to the plaintiff in the case. If, for example, criminal charges are brought against an officer and more and more officers are convicted, that makes the civil case a virtual fait accompli," Antkowiak said.
A spokesperson for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey says the filing of a lawsuit will allow the city to turn over police bodycam video to the Rogers family.
Attorneys for the Rogers family and the officers named in the lawsuit declined to comment.