Another Taser Death

[RedGlitter]

Chicago Man Hit by Taser After Bar Fight Dies

Friday , April 25, 2008





OXFORD, Ohio —

A Chicago man died Thursday, five days after police subdued him with a Taser outside a bar near Miami University, a hospital spokesman said. Kevin Piskura, 24, died shortly after 5 p.m. at University Hospital in Cincinnati, said spokesman Don Crouse.

Oxford officer Geoff Robinson used the device early Saturday morning as he tried to break up a fight, police said. The Butler County offices of the sheriff and prosecutor are investigating the officer's actions.

"We still request that people refrain from rash judgment and wait until the independent investigation of this event is complete, lest tragedy lead to more tragedy," the Piskura family said in a statement released by the hospital.

Piskura, a 2006 Miami graduate, argued with police after a friend was escorted from a bar, police said. The officer drew his Taser stun gun and told Piskura to stop, and when he did not, the officer used the device and hit Piskura in the chest.

Video from a camera attached to the Taser shows Piskura getting shocked for about 10 seconds as he rolls around on a sidewalk.

Robinson, 27, has been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Oxford police spokesman Jim Squance said.

Robinson has been an Oxford police officer for two years. He had taken a refresher course on using a stun gun a week before the incident, police said.