Pittsburgh pays Dr. Bennet Omalu $10K to investigate man’s death after police run-in
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Pittsburgh paid a famous pathologist $10,000 this week to investigate the death of a homeless man who city police shocked repeatedly with a Taser in October 2021.
Tuesday’s payment to Dr. Bennet Omalu came eight months after the city settled a lawsuit with the man’s family for $8 million.
The office of Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb said it cut the check to Omalu for “expert fees in connection with labor arbitration matters” in the death of Jim Rogers, 54, according to documents obtained by TribLive.
Authorities said police shocked Rogers with a Taser at least 10 times in just over three minutes on Oct. 13, 2021. He died the following day.
Pittsburgh City Council passed a resolution on Oct. 24 to pay Omalu, and Mayor Ed Gainey approved the payment on Oct. 31, records show.
“The City of Pittsburgh is currently involved in arbitration hearings following disciplinary actions taken after the death of Jim Rogers. The city has hired Bennet Omalu as its expert in response to the (police union’s) hiring of Dr. Benjamin D’Souza, who proffered testimony about the cause of Mr. Rogers’ death,” Gainey spokeswoman Olga George said in a statement.
“Dr. Omalu will give medical testimony to rebut the (union’s) expert about the cause and manner of Mr. Rogers’ death. He is hired for the grievance arbitrations only,” she added.
The head of Pittsburgh’s police union on Thursday blasted the move to work with Omalu.
“The city made bad decisions for failing to gather all the evidence, and now they’re challenging the Allegheny County pathologist’s finding of an accidental death,” said Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Local #1, the union that represents Pittsburgh officers.
Swartzwelder added: “$8 million in taxpayer dollars and now you’re paying a pathologist $10,000? The time for that is way before you settled the lawsuit.”
Rogers’ family settled its wrongful death suit in April for $8 million, a record payout involving the city of Pittsburgh in a civil-rights suit. The settlement also sought to improve training and police policy for officers.
Police had been called to Harriet Street in Bloomfield on Oct. 13, 2021, after a person reported that a man had taken a bicycle from a neighbor’s porch.
Rogers was shocked with a Taser by Pittsburgh police Officer Keith Edmonds, the first officer to arrive at the scene that day. A Pittsburgh police internal Critical Incident Review Board report obtained by TribLive said Edmonds deployed his Taser at least 10 times in 3 minutes and 15 seconds.
The report’s executive summary said that Rogers begged for help in the backseat of a police vehicle for 17 minutes. He eventually was taken to UPMC Mercy, but was unresponsive upon arrival. He died the following day.
Edmonds has denied in court filings that he used excessive force against Rogers.
Edmonds “is currently not employed by the City of Pittsburgh,” police spokeswoman Cara Cruz said Thursday.
Several Pittsburgh police officers are fighting disciplinary action handed out following Rogers’ death. Two of the nine police officers involved in the incident retired before facing discipline, Swartzwelder said. The remaining seven all contested recommended discipline, which included some of them losing their jobs.
Two officers who faced losing their jobs have returned to duty, Swartzwelder said. The cases of two additional officers up for termination remain pending.
Two officers facing suspension settled the matter in arbitration and the case against one officer up for suspension is still pending.
Swartzwelder declined to name any of the nine officers involved in the incident. If the matter is not resolved in arbitration, it can be appealed to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, where the proceedings would be open to the public.
Pittsburgh attorney Todd Hollis, who represented Rogers’ family in the lawsuit against the city, told TribLive on Thursday that it was too early to speculate on what the city hopes Omalu’s findings will prove.
“Here’s the question nobody is asking: the city agreed to pay the highest civil rights settlement in our history but yet no one (in the public) has seen the video” of Rogers’ death, Hollis said. “From my standpoint, the bigger question to be asked is, ‘Why?’ Why would our district attorney not want this video made public to show how Mr. Rogers died?”
The office of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. did not return an email Thursday seeking comment.
A county grand jury investigating Rogers’ death ended its probe in October. No charges have been filed in connection with the incident. Zappala said late last year that another agency was reviewing the case, though he did not specify which agency.
Omalu became well-known after being the first doctor to publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, in NFL players while working in the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. His findings, and the fallout from them, became the subject of the 2015 film “Concussion,” with Will Smith playing the role of Omalu.
Today, Omalu teaches at the University of California-Davis and runs a private practice in California. Omalu didn’t return numerous emails and calls to two of his California offices seeking comment.