Justices get chance to rule on Taser use

WASHINGTON — Handcuffed but not obeying police commands, the 21-year-old suspect absorbed the first shot from a 50,000-volt stun gun as he lie on the ground.

Over the next 14 minutes, a police officer used his Taser on Baron Pikes at least seven more times when Pikes did not follow orders.

Pikes began showing signs of distress a short time after officers dragged him into the police building in the central Louisiana town of Winnfield. A little more than an hour later, he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The Supreme Court is being asked to review Pikes’ case, which unfolded in January 2008, as part of a civil-rights lawsuit, filed on behalf of his young son, against a former Winnfield police officer. If the justices agree to hear the case, it

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would be the court’s first look at police use of stun guns after turning away appeals from both recipients of the highvoltage shocks and from police officers.

A decision on taking up the issue could come today.

Taser International, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., says that its stun guns are a safe, nonlethal alternative to firearms and that they have prevented 124,000 deaths or serious injuries. The company says injuries to officers and suspects decrease significantly when officers carry stun guns. Tasers are used by more than 17,000 law-enforcement and military agencies in 107 countries.

“It’s disingenuous to limit the use of a tool that’s actually saving lives and has proven safer than actually tackling someone to the ground,” Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said.

A Justice Department study published in 2011 concluded that officers using stun guns should avoid shooting suspects multiple times or for prolonged periods to reduce the risk of potential injury or death. But the study also found that using stun guns to subdue unruly or uncooperative suspects is appropriate.

In 2012, an American Heart Association report linked stungun use to heart attacks and deaths.

Pikes’ death certificate listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest, following nine 50,000volt applications of a stun gun. He had marijuana in his system at the time of his death and had sickle-cell anemia. However, the cause of death is not at issue in the suit.

Rather, the question is whether the police used excessive force against Pikes, especially because he was handcuffed. Pikes, 6 feet tall and weighing nearly 250 pounds, initially ran from police but was caught a few minutes later. He was wanted for possession of crack cocaine.

Winnfield fired Officer Scott Nugent after the episode. Nugent was charged with manslaughter in Pikes’ death but was acquitted by a jury in 2010.

A federal trial judge said the civil suit against Nugent could go forward, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans dismissed the claims against him. The appeals court said Pikes was arrested for a serious crime, tried to evade arrest and did not comply with the officers’ commands to cooperate. The court said the case must be dismissed because it wasn’t clear that Nugent’s actions violated Pikes’ constitutional rights. The law shields an official from being sued for money damages unless the official violated a constitutional right that was clearly established at the time the claimed misconduct occurred, the court said.