Niece recalls Jim Rogers as father figure, demands charges against police in his death

Diamond Rogers said her uncle Jim Rogers played an important supportive role in her childhood.

“Jim, he took me and (my sister) under his wing when we didn’t have a father figure in our lives,” said Diamond Rogers. “I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t for him.”

On Thursday morning, Diamond Rogers was one of 10 people gathered at Dormont’s municipal building to show support for witnesses testifying before a grand jury investigating Jim Rogers’ death.

Police went to Bloomfield’s Harriet Street on Oct. 13 after Jim Rogers reportedly took someone’s bicycle for a ride before returning it. He was tased by Pittsburgh police officer Keith Edmonds at least eight times over a span of 3 minutes and 15 seconds.

An internal police Critical Incident Review Board report obtained by the Tribune-Review said Jim Rogers, 54, repeatedly asked for help after officers handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a police car. At least 11 officers were on the scene that day, along with emergency medical personnel, but no one checked on Rogers’ condition there, the report said. Two officers drove Rogers to UPMC Mercy, and Rogers was unresponsive when they arrived. He died the next day.

Diamond Rogers said her uncle played a large role in her life when she was growing up. When she was young, she and her sister lived with their grandmother — Jim Rogers’ mother — and their uncle was always around.

Diamond Rogers remembers him loving bicycles and working as a mechanic.

“Every other day, I’d see somebody’s car in the back yard and him under the hood. Cars and bikes, that’s what he did,” she said.

Diamond Rogers said her uncle taught she and her sister how to ride bicycles on their street in Penn Hills, and he often played basketball with them.

“He brought this energy. We were kids … being raised by our grandparents. He’d play with us,” she said.

Diamond Rogers said her uncle didn’t have much, but he was generous.

“I have a lot of memories of sitting in front of the fireplace roasting weenies with him. Just the little, simple things … he would do that, as kids, we got so happy and excited about,” she said. “He made us appreciate the little things in life. And as adults, me and my sister both still do.”

Diamond Rogers said she was a child when she realized that her uncle struggled with mental illness.

“He was fighting a lot on the inside. I just know he did everything he could for his family,” she said. “He just needed help. We tried to help. All his family tried to help him. And I hate this is the way … it’s like he didn’t even really have a chance.”

“He tried for years. He tried, tried and tried to be better, but he failed in the ultimate way, and it’s horrible.”

On Wednesday, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey announced that five officers involved lost their jobs, while three others have been reinstated. He would not identify the officers, saying that their collective bargaining agreement prohibits it. FOP President Robert Swartzwelder said the union will seek arbitration.

Diamond Rogers, 27, believes the officers involved should be charged.

“They need to be held accountable just like any of us would be. I, as a Black woman, if I did that to someone, I’d be in jail. They should face the same type of charges,” she said. “He’d be alive if it wasn’t for them.”

Devon Adwoa, who has served as a family spokeswoman and supporter, said firing officers is not enough. She added that it’s common for officers who have been fired to be reinstated through the arbitration process.

“There’s not justice in a simple firing if these officers are able to return to their positions,” Adwoa said outside Dormont’s municipal building.

Diamond Rogers wonders why Edmonds, the first officer to arrive on Harriet Street, approached her uncle the way he did.

“Talk to him like a person, don’t tase him like an animal,” she said. “If Keith (Edmonds) would have just talked to Jim … think about how this would have turned out.”