Editorial: Pittsburgh is right to appeal reinstatement of officer in Jim Rogers' death

The city of Pittsburgh is appealing an arbitration decision that gave a police officer’s job back after a man died.

It is the right move by the city.

Officer Keith Edmonds was terminated in March 2022 after the October 2021 death of Jim Rogers.

Edmonds was dispatched to a call regarding a man stealing a bike. Rogers had no bike when approached but fit the description — a thin Black male in his 50s wearing a blue ballcap.

Body camera footage released in January detailed the entire episode. The exchange quickly moved from firm questioning when Edmonds arrived on the scene at 10:28 a.m. to shouting by the officer. The first electric shock came at 10:31 a.m.

In just over three minutes, Edmonds used his Taser on Rogers a minimum of 10 times. By 11:13 a.m., Rogers was unresponsive when arriving at a hospital in another officer’s car. Rogers died the next day.

Nine officers, including Edmonds, were disciplined. Of those, two retired, four were fired but reinstated — again including Edmonds — and three were suspended. The arbitrator in Edmonds’ case said he was not only to be reinstated and given back pay, but that he also is to have no discipline regarding the case at all.

If the city appeals nothing else, it should be the idea that a police officer who admits he did something wrong should have no consequences. Edmonds did just that. By his own testimony, the officer violated policies, a man died and it cost the city an $8 million settlement.

For many, this will come down to the monetary cost to the city or the social cost of a man’s life. There is another reason the city is right to push back on the arbitration finding, however. That is the future of every case Edmonds touches going forward — or every case involving any Pittsburgh police officer.

If a police officer’s own testimony isn’t enough to get him fired, how is it ever enough to put someone else in jail?

The city must be free to discipline officers, up to and including firing them. The city must be free to bench an officer who by his testimony has not acted in compliance with policy. Otherwise, why have policies at all?

The video of the Rogers incident shows Edmonds believes in harsh discipline where an individual is noncompliant. He repeatedly calls for dispatch to “step it up” and send him backup.

It is only right that the city be allowed to exercise its much more compassionate discipline for Edmonds. It also should be an example to other officers and a statement to residents and visitors to Pittsburgh that the rules are not a one-way street.