The controversy surrounding last week’s Taser-induced death of an emotionally disturbed Brooklyn man took a doubly tragic turn yesterday, as the NYPD lieutenant responsible for the incident was found dead, an apparent suicide.
Lt. Michael Pigott, 46, “served with dedication” in his 21 years on the force, said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
His suicide, according to a note left at the scene, was precipitated by his role in last Wednesday’s fatal fall of 35-year-old Iman Morales, who’d been fending off police from a 10-foot-high ledge.
Pigott – who’d ordered an officer to Taser Morales, even though there was nothing in place to cushion his fall – was stripped of his gun and badge.
The incident is still under investigation, but by all appearances, the cops’ actions showed a tragic lack of judgment – a reality that apparently weighed heavily on Pigott.
His suicide note reportedly said that he feared devastating consequences for his family were he charged criminally in the death.
But the incident, however tragic, also deserves proper context.
According to department figures, city cops fielded fully 87,000 calls last year involving emotionally disturbed persons. And, before last week’s tragedy, police had used Tasers 180 times this year without a single fatality.
Nevertheless, Kelly moved quickly last week to replace the commander of the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit, in which Pigott served, and ordered a fresh round of training in how to deal with the mentally ill.
The department is responding, in other words, in its typically professional manner.
Though that may be small comfort to the grieving families of Iman Morales and Michael Pigott.
Our thoughts are with them.