Pittsburgh police officers fired over death of Jim Rogers appeal terminations

Five Pittsburgh police officers who were fired after an internal investigation into the death of Jim Rogers following his arrest last year have appealed their terminations, a union official said Friday.

Three other officers who were named in the executive summary of the internal report but not fired also will appeal the discipline handed down to them as well, said Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police union representing Pittsburgh officers.

City and police officials have not named the five officers who were terminated, nor have they named the three who remain employed. Officials have said that naming the officers would violate their Garrity Rights, which protect public employees from self-incrimination.

The official appeals likely came earlier this week, as officers had 14 days from the date of the discipline to file their appeals. City officials announced the terminations and discipline March 23 in a brief press conference.

Officials during the briefing did not say what discipline the three officers who were not terminated would face, but a city councilwoman told the Tribune-Review that they would undergo retraining, though she did not know what that entailed.

Nine officers were named in the executive summary of the internal police Critical Incident Review Board report obtained by the Tribune-Review in December. One, Lt. Matthew Gauntner, retired in early December.

Rogers, a 54-year-old homeless man, was tased at least eight times within three minutes and 15 seconds the morning of Oct. 13 after police were called to Harriet Street in Bloomfield for a report of a bicycle that has possibly been stolen.

The same summary that named the officers indicated that Rogers pleaded for help in the backseat of a police vehicle for 17 minutes. He was eventually taken to UPMC Mercy, but was unresponsive upon arrival. He died the following day. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ultimately ruled Rogers’ death an accident caused by a lack of oxygen to his brain.

A grand jury is investigating whether criminal charges should be filed in connection with Rogers’ death.