Pittsburgh police officer fired in Jim Rogers’ death cannot get job back, judge rules

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    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Pittsburgh police officer involved in the tasing death of Jim Rogers cannot get his job back, a judge ruled on Wednesday.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Alan Hertzberg issued a ruling vacating an arbitration decision reinstating Keith Edmonds as an officer with the city, a statement from Mayor Ed Gainey said on Wednesday.

Gainey’s statement said that Hertzberg’s ruling found that the “neutral arbitrator and FOP arbitrators deprived the City of its due process rights by dishonestly finding that police officer Keith Edmonds did not violate a City policy, rule or regulation, when he admitted that he did and when the evidence of violations was overwhelming.”

In April, the city filed an appeal to a ruling that reinstated Edmonds to the police force, and Hertzberg’s ruling on Wednesday overturned that.

Rogers, a homeless man, died in 2021 after being tased by officers with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. Officers tased him after he was accused of stealing a bike in the city’s Bloomfield neighborhood.

While in custody, Rogers told officers he could not breathe and needed to be taken to the hospital, but officers delayed leaving the scene in Bloomfield until EMS arrived to treat their injuries. Rogers was taken to UPMC Mercy by officers, but he was unconscious when he arrived and later died. West Penn Hospital was two blocks away from the scene in Bloomfield.

The city settled with Rogers’ family for $8 million.

“We’re thankful the court decision will allow the City of Pittsburgh to hold City employees responsible for their actions and ensure that every resident is treated with dignity and respect,” Gainey said in Wednesday’s statement.

“This decision today represents an essential step forward, and must be recognized as only the beginning of a broader movement for justice,” a statement from the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch said, in part.

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