White Cop Indicted for Tasering an African American Man to Death

[babylonsister]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/95252/white_cop_indicted_for_tasering_an_african_american_man_to_death/

White Cop Indicted for Tasering an African American Man to Death

Posted by Steven D., Booman Tribune at 3:21 PM on August 15, 2008.

Will the officer be punished justly for tasering a man to death? Probably not, still we should, I suppose, be happy he was indicted at all.


You may recall my story last month about the Winnfield, La. African American man who died after a white police officer tasered him 9 times after he was already in custody. Well that police officer, Scott Nugent has now been indicted by a Winn Parrish Grand Jury for Pike's murder.

Ruling in a racially explosive case that some forensic experts have described as police torture, a grand jury in the small Louisiana town of Winnfield indicted a white police officer yesterday on charges of manslaughter and official malfeasance for repeatedly shocking a handcuffed black suspect with a Taser device, resulting in the man's death due to cardiac arrest.

After two days of closed testimony, Winn Parish district attorney Chris Nevils announced that the grand jury had indicted Scott Nugent, 21, for the death last January of Baron "Scooter" Pikes, 21, while in police custody. Two other Winnfield police officers who were present during the incident were not charged. <...>

"It is our intention to show at trial that Mr Nugent caused the death of Baron Pikes by 'Tasing' him multiple times, unnecessarily and in violation of Louisiana law, and by failing to get him medical attention when it was apparent he needed it," Nevils said in a statement. "In a civilised society, abuse by those who are given great authority cannot be tolerated."

By indicting him for manslaughter the Grand Jury is essentially saying that Nugent had no premeditated intent to kill Mr. Pikes, and that his actions did not show a depraved indifference to the life of Baron Pikes, even though he continued to taser Baron Pikes after he had stopped responding to the shocks and was clearly unconscious. Still we should, I suppose, be happy he was indicted at all. As for the other two officers that were present I believe at the very least they are guilty of criminal negligence in Pikes' death since presumably they could have prevented Nugent from continuing to shock Pikes with 50,000 bolts of electricity after he was already in custody. But then, what do I know.

Worst case, Nugent faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison. I will be shocked if he gets a sentence that severe. Indeed, my guess is that unless the media spotlight continues to shine on this case, it's very possible that Nugent will be offered a plea bargain for a greatly reduced sentence with minimal jail time, or even a suspended sentence with probation. Trial juries are notoriously reluctant (and this apples to places North, South, East and West) to find police officers guilty in cases where the officer has killed someone, especially if the victims are black (recall the recent case of the Sean Bell in New York who was about to be married when he was killed by a 50 bullet police barrage for no good reason). If this case does go to trial, expect Mr. Pikes and his family to be dragged through the slime by Nugent's defense counsel.

Previous thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3650253

[Truth4Justice]

1. Notice the cops age? We have been raising monsters like this ****** to treat a man like a dog...

and its only going to get worse as the Iraq war boys come home and go into law-enforcement. And you are right about this monster getting an easy out, just like the three murderers who killed Sean Bell in NYC.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Was this guy a vet or a criminal justice grad?

I have a friend, a recently retired cop, who absolutely feared criminal justice grads who were new to the force and hated working with them. He called them "highly indoctrinated Hitler Youth" and said that they had absolutely no respect for constitutional rights, the citizenry, the law, nor much of anything else. He said first Gulf War era vets were great, vets on the whole were better, but grads were nothing but trouble and strife. He said they truly scared him.

Jeff might have seemed, to a stranger, kind of simple and goofy and small-town, but he knew his job, knew his town and respected and even loved his citizens. He was the only EMT on the force, did that on his own, was damned good at it and cared. You cannot ask for much more out of a guy who does that kind of job.

Cops around here never pull their guns and I have yet to see a Taser. The chief can bust chops, in a friendly and joking manner, pretty well though. ;-) Living in a small town has its charms.

[Truth4Justice]

3. I dont know what this monsters credentials are but I've seen the same lack of humanity in the rookie

cops around here. They know that they can get away with just about anything these days. Its truly frightening and I suspect something like this occurred in Nazi Germany. With all he federal dollars coming in we are seeing a unified national police force and that amounts to the "standing army" the founders warned us about,IMO. This nation is in DEEP trouble and there are no places or contries that will come to OUR rescue now.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. I think, in the rookies...

One sees a evidence of "The Grand Theft Auto" generation. I also think you see that in some of the young troops. Just rackin' up points.

[Truth4Justice]

5. The problem too is that many cops dont have roots where they patrol. It isnt unusual for them to....

live in another county so they need not worry about the typical motorist or other law-abiding citizen that they harrased to get some "street justice" while they are off duty. Your point is well made about the violent video games these young monsters have been conditioning themselves with. Tazers are just anothr toy they can play with not caring anything about the pain inflicted. We need to get these creeps off the job and take their toys away.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. I agree about the tasers.

Take the punishment phase of justice out of the hands of police. They have proven that largely, they cannot administer it responsibly. They see the taser as a simple shortcut to punishment for "contempt of cop".

[Truth4Justice]

7. Exactly. They demand respect simply becuase they wear a badge. Repect is earned and not with a Tazer

we need to demand that Tazers are semi-lethal and only usef in a violent situtation which clearly isn't happening.