Court won't force Pittsburgh to turn over taser death report to DA's office

An Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge has denied a motion by the district attorney’s office to force the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police to turn over an internal report examining the October death of Jim Rogers.

The DA’s office initially asked the city to produce the 15-page executive summary of the Critical Incident Review Board in December. The request was denied.

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 over a report of a bicycle that had been taken.

The report showed that after Rogers was taken into custody, he sat in the backseat of a police vehicle for 17 minutes, banging his head off the seat and repeating, “‘I need a hospital, I can’t breathe, get a medic, help me.’”

Despite emergency medical technicians being on-scene, Rogers received no medical attention. Instead, officers transported him to the hospital, where, upon arrival, they found him unresponsive.

He died the next day.

Related:

• Disciplinary action initiated against 9 Pittsburgh police officers in tasing, death of man in Bloomfield
• Man who died after being tased by Pittsburgh police pleaded for medical help but got none, report says
• Investigation continues into man's death after he was tased by Pittsburgh police officer

Family members and advocates have demanded disciplinary action by the city police department as well as criminal charges to be filed by the DA’s office.

The city announced in late December that disciplinary action had been initiated against nine officers. However, administration will not provide any details as to what type of punishment was meted out or to whom.

In December, District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said that he was awaiting the cause and manner of death from the medical examiner’s office before he could make a determination on whether to file criminal charges.

The ME’s office issued its findings — that Rogers died as a result of a lack of oxygen to his brain, and the manner of death was accidental — on Jan. 3.

Still, there has not been any announcement by Zappala regarding a time frame for a decision.

Messages for the city law department and a spokesman for the mayor were not immediately returned on Friday.

The Critical Incident Review Board executive summary, obtained by the Tribune-Review, described the actions of officers that day and summarized policy and procedure violations, including their excessive use of force, a lack of supervision and their failure to recognize that Rogers was in medical distress.

After the city declined to the summary over to the DA’s office, Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney William Petulla filed a motion for production with Judge Jill E. Rangos, the administrative judge of the criminal division, on Dec. 22.

In the motion, Petulla wrote that the document “would be enormously valuable in order to further conduct an exhaustive investigation.”

On Jan. 11, Rangos issued an order denying the request. No explanation was provided.

“This is a prime example of the hurdles that are faced when conducting an investigation, and we respectfully disagree with the judge’s decision,” said DA’s spokesman Mike Manko.

Under the collective bargaining agreement that governs the Pittsburgh Fraternal Order of Police union, officers are required to cooperate with internal investigations and the Critical Incident Review Board and submit themselves to interviews under a 1967 federal case known as Garrity.

However, Garrity also prohibits any of those statements from being used against the officers in any subsequent criminal case.

Officers under criminal investigation, like all others, can choose not to cooperate or answer questions under their constitutional right to remain silent.