Charges Possible for La. Cop Accused of 9 Shocks

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

A grand jury in central Louisiana will consider criminal charges against a former police officer who is accused of jolting a handcuffed man nine times with a Taser before the suspect died, a prosecutor said Monday.

Winn Parish District Attorney Chris Nevils said the grand jury was scheduled to convene Aug. 12 to begin hearing evidence in the death of Baron Pikes, 21.

Pikes was repeatedly shocked with a 50,000-volt Taser as he was arrested on a drug posession warrant on Jan. 17. A coroner ruled the death was a homicide. Former Winnfield police officer Scott Nugent has acknowledged using the device on Pikes, Nevils said.

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Powell Lexing has accused police of trying to cover up what she called a racially motivated case of police brutality. Pikes was black; Nugent is white. Pikes fled when Nugent and another officer approached, but he didn't try to resist arrest after the officers caught up to him, according to Powell Lexing.

Winn Parish coroner Randolph Williams said all nine of the Taser shocks came after Pikes was handcuffed. He didn't have any "pain or neuromuscular response" to the last two shocks, Williams added.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=5466437

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. A delightful little charge of murder would be appropriate.

Perhaps with a little looksee by the FBI, regarding Federal Civil Rights violations as well.

I know. I dream. It'll never happen.

[Maddy McCall]

2. Winn Parish abuts La Salle Parish, the home of Jena.

I think tasers are evil instruments, and I hope they are banned soon.

[aspergris]

6. two points

1) I cannot EVER see it justified for tasing somebody 9 times
2) I carry a taser, so I am trained in their use, and have been tased myself (but not 9 times).
3) tasers are not evil. Tasers are life saving, and a great tool. EVERY major (iow, enough statistical samples) agency that has adopted tasers have seen officer shootings go down, suspect injuries go down, officer injuries go down, etc. Iow, they result in increased safety for criminal and cop, less deaths, and less injuries. That's good.
4) but again - I'd like to see the PC cert, but I cannot see how 9 could be justified. Let alone on a handcuffed man. Manslaughter sounds like da minimim

[Mandate My Ass]

13. tasers may not be evil

but jag offs like this cop are all to common. I've seen enough anecdotal evidence of tasers used like this - not to mention the pain they inflict - to come to the conclusion that they are torture devices in the wrong hands and need to be eliminated.

[Truth4Justice]

22. I must agree. They might have thier places, but only in the hands of people without a bully complex.

[Seldona]

14. Interesting. A device that shoots 50k volts into a person is LIFE SAVING???

I fail to see the logic in defending a device that delivers enough voltage to outright kill about 1 in 100 people ON IT'S FIRST USE, due to medical conditions and body chemistry. Not to mention the bastards who tased the kid with the broken back and broken heal for not getting up. If that isn't evil, then evil simply does not exist.

What makes it all the more evil is that there is an institutionalization of torture going on even as we write this, from the top down. Bet you can't wait to get your hands on the microwave gun and the other torture devices the military is itching to test on American civilian protesters?

Authoritarians fucking suck.

:yoiks:

[Truth4Justice]

18. When are people going to stop pretending this isnt happening and DO something?

[Truth4Justice]

20. Assuming that you are a police officer, we need more cops like you!

I can understand the idea of using a Taser, rather then a gun or even a baton, but
continually zapping someone who is down and no real threat any longer makes no sense
to me, unless the officer likes watching people thrashing about in pain.

[slampoet]

3. Even dead frogs in formaldehide have a neuromuscular response.

This means that the cop shocked this poor person so hard that the nerves physically burned.

The cop incinerated the flesh around the entry point of the darts.


The cop cooked his flesh.

[gratuitous]

4. I'm sure the DA will pursue this REAL hard

After all, who better to charge police officers accused of wrongdoing than the very district attorneys who depend so heavily on the police to prosecute other crimes? I mean, there's no way the police would or could, you know, retaliate against the DA's office for sending up one of their own, right?

[Truth4Justice]

5. Right on. I am sure the DA's office is all over this case right now....not!

One law for you and another for us. Thats how it works in the US "courthouses".

Wink-wink, nod-nod.

[bean fidhleir]

7. "One law for you and another for us"

The late Michael Gilbert, a mystery author who was also a very successful attorney in Britain, put it a little differently (this is actually a near-quote, not a perfect quote):

"One law for the rich and another for the poor is rubbish. There's only one law for everyone. The problem is that there isn't enough of it to go around. So the rich get the protection part of the law while the poor get the enforcement part."

[WriteDown]

8. Lousiana?

Kind of like Chinatown with Jack Nicholson. I will be in New Orleans in 2 days. Maybe I should ask someone to wish me luck.

[superconnected]

11. yeah, just stay away from cops.

I know, I know, most wouldn't do this. It's just had to tell between the good and the bad guys when cops are allowed to taz people who are not resisting them - as has happened in too many news reports now.

[Vidar]

9. As long as the charges involve several million volts going his way...

[OneBlueSky]

10. ten bucks says he walks . . . n/t

.

[superconnected]

12. Love the headline - charges "POSSIBLE", not "has been charged"

anything is possible. However these charges are unlikely.

[redqueen]

15. They have to at least make sure he's never given another job as an officer ever, anywhere.

"A coroner ruled the death was a homicide."

They can't just sweep this under the rug.

[Truth4Justice]

16. They will try too. After all 3 cops shot an innocent Black man to death in NYC and walked.

[superconnected]

17. I hope they do, but they should have already charged him.

I've seen the cops walk too may times to believe they will be held accountable.

I expect a victim defamement, which really has nothing to do with a man not resisting arrest, is what they'll use to get him off.

[lonestarnot]

19. Charges better be brought up!

[Truth4Justice]

21. I wouldn't count on it. Even if he are it will probably be an administrative punishment or a slap.