DIFFERING OPINIONS: Ruling imminent on whether Black police officer who used Taser on Jim Rogers gets his job back

BILLY JOE JORDAN, an uncle of Jim Rogers, and his wife, Myrtle Jordan, watch the video of Rogers being apprehended and subsequently left in a police vehicle for more than 17 minutes without medical attention. Rogers died in October 2021. (Photo by J.L. Martello) The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that a ruling could be made on or before March 30 on whether fired Pittsburgh Police Officer Keith Edmonds will be eligible to get his job back. He is the officer who used a Taser multiple times on Jim Rogers during an altercation in Bloomfield in 2021. Currently, there is a labor arbitration case occurring between the City of Pittsburgh and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1, the union that represents Pittsburgh Police officers. The FOP is arguing that Edmonds, who is Black, should be permitted to get his job back as a Pittsburgh Police officer, after he and numerous other officers were terminated by the City of Pittsburgh following the death of Rogers. There have been other officers who were fired who have since returned to the force, but not Edmonds, who is the officer that had the initial interaction with Rogers on Harriet Street in Bloomfield...