PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

PAPV alert: come support the Rogers Family
by david Thursday, Mar. 25, 2004 at 12:31 PM
david@papv.org

Come support the family of Bernard Rogers, who are being jerked around by the District Attorney. Brief Rally before the coroner's third hearing....

People Against Police Violence
For Immediate Release
March 25, 2003



Contact: Renee Wilson, 412-657-4268, justice@papv.org, http://www.papv.org

Rogers Family to Zappala: Do Your Job!
People Against Police Violence to rally at 3rd hearing on the murder of Bernard Rogers

WHAT: Rally to Protest the District Attorney's failure to do his job
WHO: The Rogers Family and People Against Police Violence (PAPV)
WHEN: 9:30am, Friday, March 26, 2004
WHERE: Coroner's Office, 542 Fourth Ave., Downtown Pittsburgh

At 10 am, Friday March 26, the Coroner's office will hold a third hearing in the shooting death of Bernard Rogers. Mr. Rogers was shot and killed by Pittsburgh Housing Authority police on November 15, 2002, after three officers entered a Bedford Dwelling because they thought they smelled Marijuana. Rogers--who did not resist arrest, possess a deadly weapon, or make verbal threats of any kind--was shot in the chest and died within seconds.

The Rogers family has already been made to go though two inquests. Moreover, on March 13, 2003, County Coroner Cyril Wecht issued his recommendation: In a 36 page report, it was concluded that there was “no justification for the use of deadly force against Bernard Rogers" and "that a general charge of homicide be filed" against the officer who shot Rogers.

But now the family is caught in the middle of a fight between the District Attorney and the Coroner, who have decided not to work together. The Rogers family and PAPV are tired of having to deal with the politics of our dysfunctional County government, and will be outside the Coroner's office protesting the political games that the big wigs are playing.

"The DA is trying to wriggle out from under what he is sworn to do," said Renee Wilson, director of People Against Police Violence (PAPV). "These inquests are dragging on and on with no end in sight."

After a brief rally at 9:30 am in front of the Coroners office, the Rogers family and their supporters will enter the Court Room. "We want to know who killed our son," said Bernard's mother, Joyce Rogers.

PAPV is concerned that working people who can not afford big name lawyers have no chance at all with this system. Zappala has turned a blind eye to a number of cases that are his responsibility to prosecute--such as the deaths of Paul Corsi (killed by a falling tress at the David Lawrence Convention center), and Charles Dixon and Damian Jordan (killed while in the custody of Mt. Oliver police). As a result, the big companies or the police that are responsible for their deaths are being let off the hook.

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