jillio

From Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick
CNN


WINNFIELD, Louisiana (CNN) -- A police officer shocked a handcuffed Baron "Scooter" Pikes nine times with a Taser after arresting him on a cocaine charge.


Baron Pikes, 21, was Tasered nine times by a police officer in January in Winnfield, Louisiana.

1 of 2 He stopped twitching after seven, according to a coroner's report. Soon afterward, Pikes was dead.

Now the officer, since fired, could end up facing criminal charges in Pikes' January death after medical examiners ruled it a homicide.

Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner, told CNN the 21-year-old sawmill worker was jolted so many times by the 50,000-volt Taser that he might have been dead before the last two shocks were delivered.

Williams ruled Pikes' death a homicide in June after extensive study.

Winn Parish District Attorney Christopher Nevils said he will decide on any charges against the ex-officer, Scott Nugent, once a Louisiana State Police report on the case is complete. Watch coroner describe how cop might've Tasered a dead man »

"It's taken several months for this case to even be properly addressed, so one has to wonder, why did it take so long?" said Carol Powell Lexing, a lawyer for the Pikes family. "Obviously, a wrongful death occurred."

Nugent's lawyer, Phillip Terrell, said his client followed proper procedure to subdue a man who outweighed him by 100 pounds. But Williams said Pikes was already handcuffed and on the ground when first hit with the Taser, after the 247-pound suspect was slow to follow police orders to get up.

Winnfield, a sleepy lumber town about 100 miles southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana, is best known as the birthplace of legendary Louisiana governors Huey and Earl Long. It's also about 45 miles northwest of Jena, Louisiana, where a racially charged assault case sparked a September 2007 demonstration by an estimated 15,000 people. Watch racism charges fly after Taser death »

One of the teenage defendants in that case, Mychal Bell, is Pikes' first cousin -- and his lawyer was Powell Lexing.


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Nugent is white; Pikes was black. His death led to demonstrations that drew several dozen people in Winnfield, where the population of about 15,000 is roughly half African-American.

"The family wants justice," Lexing said. "This is just another example of why it's very important to stay vigilant with these types of cases, on the injustice that's been perpetrated on the disadvantaged."

But Winnfield police Lt. Chuck Curry said race "isn't an issue at all" in the matter.

"This has come down to a police officer that was trying to apprehend a suspect that they had warrants for," he said. "He done what he thought he was trained to do to bring that subject into custody. At some point, something happened with his body that caused him to go into cardiac arrest or whatever." See how Tasers work »

According to police, Pikes was wanted on a charge of possession of cocaine when police tried to arrest him outside a shopping center January 12.

"He would not stop for the officer," Curry said. "At some point in there, he was Tased to bring him under control, and several hours later, died at the emergency room."

Terrell said Pikes was fighting Nugent "on uneven ground" amid obstructions such as concrete blocks and barbed wire.

"He's fighting, wrestling with an individual who weighs 100 pounds more than him," he said. "His partner had just come back to the police department from triple bypass surgery and could not assist Officer Nugent."

Terrell said his client "used every means possible" to take Pikes into custody before pulling out his Taser, a weapon Winnfield police purchased in 2007.

"The only thing he could have done other than to say, 'OK, we're going to let you go' is to beat him or Tase him. He did the right thing," Terrell said.

Williams, who ruled Pikes' death a homicide in June after extensive study, said Nugent fired his Taser at Pikes six times in less than three minutes -- shots recorded by a computer chip in the weapon's handle. Then officers put Pikes in the back of a cruiser and drove him to their police station -- where Nugent fired a seventh shot, directly against Pikes' chest.

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"After he was given that drive stun to the chest, he was pulled out of the car onto the concrete, " Williams told CNN. "He was electroshocked two more times, which two officers noted that he had no neuromuscular response to those last two 50,000-volt electroshocks."

Williams said he had two nationally known forensic pathologists, including former New York city medical examiner Michael Baden, review the case before issuing his conclusions. He said it's possible Nugent was shocking a dead man the last two times he pulled the trigger.

"This fellow was talking in the back seat of the car prior to shot number seven," he said. "From that point on, it becomes questionable [if Pikes was still alive]."

Curry said Pikes told officers he suffered from asthma and had been using PCP and crack cocaine. But Williams said he found no sign of drug use in the autopsy, and no record of asthma in Pikes' medical history.

In the year since Winnfield police received Tasers, officers have used them 14 times, according to police records -- with 12 of the instances involving black suspects. Ten of the 14 incidents involved Nugent, who has no public disciplinary record.

Nugent was suspended after Pikes' death, and Winnfield's City Council voted 3-2 to fire him in May. He is appealing his dismissal, and his lawyer says he followed proper procedures in Pikes' case. He was trained in the use of the Taser by a senior police officer who was present during the incident that led to Pikes' death, Terrell said.

Curry said Taser International, the device's manufacturer, indicates that "multiple Tasings do not affect a person." But he said he could not explain why Pikes was shocked so many times, and said whether Nugent followed proper procedure was "yet to be determined."

But a copy of the Winnfield Police Department's Taser training manual, obtained by CNN, says the device "shall only be deployed in circumstances where it is deemed reasonably necessary to control a dangerous or violent subject." And Williams said regulations regarding the use of Tasers were not followed.

"It violated every aspect -- every single aspect -- of the department's policy about its use," the coroner said.

Winnfield has seen a spate of high-profile corruption cases in recent years. One of Nevils' predecessors as district attorney, Terry Reeves, killed himself amid allegations of embezzlement and extortion. The town's current police chief, Johnny Ray Carpenter, is a convicted drug offender who received a pardon from former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards who himself is now serving a federal prison term for racketeering.

And Carpenter's predecessor, Gleason Nugent -- the father of Pikes' arresting officer -- committed suicide in 2005, after allegations of fraud and vote buying in the race for police chief, an elected position in Winnfield.


Now Nevils is awaiting the state police report on Pikes' death, which will be presented to a grand jury for possible charges against Nugent -- a possibility Curry said would be a blow to the department.

"It's one of these no-win situations," he said. "No matter the outcome, nobody's going to win in this case."


Ex-cop may be charged in case of man Tasered to death - CNN.com

Deafness

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Royale

Also the man in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada got tasered to death by the police.

CTV.ca | Man dies after being Tasered by Winnipeg police

jillio

Thanks for the second link.

web730

How sad!

It was something I posted in other thread not long ago that I'm against the tasers - rather against their over-exceeding use (abuse).

Some posters said that it's safe enough... hey those, check them out! lol

There have been over 100 deaths from the tasers itself so it should be banned from the common use except for the extreme situations only.

jillio

Yeah, the discussion in the other thread is what prompted me to post this.

Byrdie714

Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it. Especially with a heart condition.

Wokamuka

9 times?

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Liebling:-)))

*sigh*

I debated over that issues at other thread. I am against to use weapons to kill/hurt unarmed people.

Send my sympathy to the family of Baron Pikes.

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jillio

And, probably already dead before the last two shocks were delivered, according to the ME.

CrzyMeg

9 times? Yikes.

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shel90

Wonder why so excessive?

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Jiro

probably a bad cop who shouldn't have been hired in the first place. he's probably very racist and has a serious anger management issue. hope the court finds him guilty and impose the harshest penalty available for him - a chilling message for rest of the cops in USA - "DO NOT BE TRIGGER-HAPPY W/ TAZER"

jillio

Dare I say it? The victim was black.

Wokamuka

and the city is predominantly black.

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jillio

"Predominantly black" is not the same as being in a majority. Nor does it go very far in dispelling stereoptypes.

Wokamuka

That region, obviously, still suffers from the affects of slavery many, many years ago. Hurricane escapism exacerbates the stereotype, I would perceive. Black people, in times of slavery, were in the majority in population numbers. Incredibly more so than other regions of the United States. When the Emancipation Proclamation was declared (and enforced), all heck broke loose.

Today, you've still a system trying to adapt to a society continuously demanding land and ass. People are trying to adapt . . . and it would seem that, with social/childhood conditioning, old habits die hard.

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jillio

**nodding**

Dixie

There are plenty of racial sayings around here. And everytime I see them uttered I just want to cringe, and slap the crap out the person that said it.

What doesnt need to happen is hiring a police officer with a racist tendency and anger issues to 'uphold the law'. The law is for everyone not just this group of people or that group of people.

What I find ironic is that when a white man attacks a black man, it becomes national news within hours. But if a black man attacks a white man, it barely makes the evening news. Racism does not discriminate - racism can come from any person of any race and be directed at any person of any race.

Sadly those who were raised in a racist household are more likely to carry those same attitudes into their own lives and so forth and the cycle never seems to stop until someone along the line has an epiphany that hey, this mode of thinking isnt only illogical, it is also morally and ethically wrong.

We should love our neighbor as ourselves and that means no matter what race your neighbor is.

Not every southerner was raised this way, but sadly there are still handful of southerners who still believe in segregation, a 'lesser race', and sadly those people have become stereotypes of the south which couldnt be more wrong for the most part.

Alot of the law enforcement problems where race becomes the issue is 'racial profiling' which in my opinion is wrong.

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Babyface

slavery happened 200 years ago get over it.

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whatcha thinking about?

how I could kill you and get away with it

(forgot where I heard that)

jillio

Who said anything about slavery? We're talking about racism.

Babyface

response to upper post by wokumuka or something, but yeah thoughts on racism most of the time alot of communitys will use that excuse especially black communities theyll play the race card....alot. racism happens to everyone doesnt matter what color you are white black brown purple yellow red orange rainbow colored etc, racism sucks but you cant do anything about it, which also sucks

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whatcha thinking about?

how I could kill you and get away with it

(forgot where I heard that)

jillio

You can refuse to tolerate it, and speak out against it instead of just turning your head and ignoring it.

Babyface

Id rather not fight against white power skinheads, who are mostly racist due to love of there own race more than others, so id ignore em I like my body parts intact thank you

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whatcha thinking about?

how I could kill you and get away with it

(forgot where I heard that)

jillio

And as long as it is ignored, it will continue. What about them targeting the deaf population? You would speak out then, wouldn't you? If we ignore this kind of hatred directed at one group just because we believe it doesn't directly affect us, we risk having that hatred perpetrated upon us.

Dixie

:good post:

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Steel X

Shotting the Teaser 9 times even when the man is unarmed and handcuffed? Interesting...definetly the poorest choice ever made by a cop.

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