Allegheny County Medical Examiner rules Jim Rogers' death was accidental

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Monday that a homeless man who died a day after being tased repeatedly by Pittsburgh police died as a result of a lack of oxygen to his brain.

Medical Examiner Karl Williams’ office said the manner of death is accidental.

Jim Rogers was tased at least eight times by Pittsburgh police the morning of Oct. 13 on Harriet Street in Bloomfield after a neighbor reported seeing someone take a bike from a front yard.

According to the executive summary of a report by the Pittsburgh police Critical Incident Review Board, Rogers asked for help and medical attention from responding officers at least 13 times at the scene of the incident, but was never provided any. He became unresponsive in the back of a police car as he was being taken to a local hospital where he died the next day.

Nine officers in the Bureau of Police were identified in the report as having committed policy violations, and disciplinary action was initiated against them last week. The city has not said what action is being taken.

The city’s Department of Public Safety doesn’t comment on personnel matters like any disciplinary action that may be taken, in accordance with the city’s contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, according to spokeswoman Cara Cruz. In a statement, Cruz noted the medical examiner’s determinations are based on medical criteria.

“The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police continues to cooperate with the Allegheny County Police Department’s independent investigation into Mr. Rogers’ death,” Cruz said.

Mayor Ed Gainey, who took office on Monday, said he had not been briefed on the situation and therefore could not comment.

A news release issued by the county said all available information, including the medical examiner’s report, has been turned over to the county police, who were investigating the death, and to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office, which is responsible for filing criminal charges.

Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said Williams has always been objective in his medical analysis.

“It is obvious that Mr. Rogers’ interaction with the police is central to a determination of criminal culpability in connection with the cause of death,” Manko said. “As is usual, such a determination will require further scrutiny and explanation by Dr. Williams and his office.”

Manko could not provide a timeline for when a decision on criminal charges might be announced.

Devon Adwoa, an activist working with Rogers’ family, said the report doesn’t change anything.

“I think on behalf of the organizing we’ve been doing for Justice for Jim, we’ve been calling for charges for the officers who committed these crimes,” she said. “To see a report declaring it an accident is horrifying. We saw it play out on camera what happened. And what that looked like was a murder that calls for getting those officers out of their jobs and charged for their crimes.”

Dr. Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist who previously served as coroner and medical examiner in Allegheny County, called the finding for manner of death inadequate.

“How can it be an accident? All this time, and that’s what they come up with?” Wecht asked.

In Pennsylvania, there are five recognized manners of death: homicide, suicide, accident, natural and undetermined.

Accident is defined as a death that occurs as the result of an event with unintentional consequences. Homicide is a death caused at the hands of another.

The cause of death — acute global hypoxic ischemic injury of the brain — simply means diminished oxygen and blood supply getting to the brain, Wecht said.

“Does it say what it’s due to? It’s due to the tasering,” Wecht said. “How in the hell is it accidental? How do you call it accidental to tase someone eight or 10 times?”

University of Pittsburgh law professor David A. Harris said that the manner of death could be contested and challenged.

But still, the medical examiner’s findings do not preclude criminal charges from being filed, including, for example, the charge of reckless endangerment.

In addition, Harris said involuntary manslaughter could still apply.

Under Pennsylvania law, “a person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter when as a direct result of the doing of an unlawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, or the doing of a lawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, he causes the death of another person.”

Involuntary manslaughter does not require an intentional killing, Harris said.

“Is there a link between the actions — or in the case of a police officer — of failing to act?” he said. “There’s going to be a substantial question of causation. The finding of accidental death by a medical examiner does not have the same effect as saying no one has done anything wrong.”