Pittsburgh community members watch bodycamera video of Jim Rogers case
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A community viewing was held on Wednesday night to show the newly released video of what happened before, during and after a man died when he was repeatedly tased by Pittsburgh police.
The incident happened in October 2021. The graphic police bodycamera video shows the moments Jim Rogers was tased by police after he was accused of stealing a bike.
"This is so disheartening," community member Carmen Brown said.
In the video, Rogers can be heard saying, "I didn't do it" before he jumped up to run away and was tased.
"Jim was a good kid and it hurts me," said Billy Joe Jordan, Rogers' uncle.
Community members watched as the video showed Rogers never getting medical attention at the scene and officers deciding to take him to Mercy Hospital even though West Penn Hospital was a couple of blocks away.
Rogers arrived at Mercy unconscious and later died.
"Going all the way past West Penn Hospital, Shadyside, Presby, to go all the way to Mercy? This man could have been saved," a community member said.
"That was hard. I can barely sleep at night. I couldn't take it," Jordan said.
Many questioned why it took so long for the video to be released.
"You should have done more to make sure that video got out before you got that $8 million," Brown said.
Across the nation, Americans pay hundreds of millions of dollars for bodycams and dashcams for local police, but Pennsylvania taxpayers rarely get to see what they pay for.
State law gives police options for releasing videos. In some cases, it allows district attorneys or the attorney general to decide. While the law doesn't require police to release video, it doesn't prevent it either.
Attorney Todd Hollis obtained a court order in this case. It was signed off by a judge to release the video.
KDKA-TV asked Mayor Ed Gainey on Wednesday night if he believed it should have been released sooner.
"I don't have no comment on that. That's between the court and Todd and them. I don't have no comments on that," Gainey said.
KDKA-TV's Erika Stanish: "Your office pushes for transparency..."
Gainey: "Absolutely. We're transparent. We'll stay transparent. You know that. We've been transparent, but I'm only transparent on the things that I can control. That's out of my control. I don't comment on things I don't control."
In a statement on Tuesday, the city of Pittsburgh said, "The decision on whether or not to release body camera video to the public does not fall under the City's authority."