2008 Woodie Awards
Taser injures MU grad
Police request independent review by Butler County
Caroline Briggs
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Front Page
Updated information can be found on The Miami Student blog.
An early Saturday morning incident outside of Brick Street Bar involving two Miami graduates and the Oxford Police Department landed Kevin Piskura in the Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital in Cincinnati.
According to Oxford police, an officer on bike patrol at 2:05 a.m. Saturday noticed a disturbance in front of Brick Street.
The disturbance allegedly involved Steven Gene Smith of Mundelein, Ill. engaging in a physical altercation with employees of Brick Street, after he was reportedly escorted out of the bar.
When the officer stepped in to arrest Smith, another male reportedly entered the altercation, fighting with both the Brick Street employee and the officer. Kevin Piskura was later identified as the second male in the fight.
According to Oxford police, the officer gave repeated verbal warnings to stop fighting or he would release the Taser. Reportedly, while Smith complied with the officer's commands, Piskura continued to fight. The Taser was then reportedly deployed on Piskura's upper chest, and he collapsed to the ground and was handcuffed.
At this point, officers allegedly noticed that Piskura had labored breathing and Oxford Life Squad transported him to McCullough-Hyde Hospital. Piskura was then flown to University Hospital.
OPD stated in a press release Saturday that witness testimonies and interviews have been collected in an internal review of the incident.
OPD's office manager Amy Gabbard said a police report would be released this week, as well as other public documents pertaining to the case.
The department declined to release the name of the arresting officer at this point of the investigation and declined to comment on questions related to the specific incident or the department's policy on the use of Tasers.
After an internal review is conducted, OPD Chief Steve Schwein asked that Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper conduct an independent review of the information gathered from the incident.
Piper said he has yet to receive much information on the incident.
"(OPD has) asked if I would look at the conclusions they've reached and give my opinions as to an assessment of what happened," Piper said. "I haven't received any information yet. I have received numerous phone calls but I don't have any substantive information at this point."
Piper said he expects the conclusions made by OPD's internal review will reach his office soon. He also noted that the conclusions from his review would not be ready for weeks because of other cases he is currently working on.
After Piper releases his review, he said it is up to OPD to use the assessment as the department sees fit.
An early Saturday morning incident outside of Brick Street Bar involving two Miami graduates and the Oxford Police Department landed Kevin Piskura in the Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital in Cincinnati.
According to Oxford police, an officer on bike patrol at 2:05 a.m. Saturday noticed a disturbance in front of Brick Street.
The disturbance allegedly involved Steven Gene Smith of Mundelein, Ill. engaging in a physical altercation with employees of Brick Street, after he was reportedly escorted out of the bar.
When the officer stepped in to arrest Smith, another male reportedly entered the altercation, fighting with both the Brick Street employee and the officer. Kevin Piskura was later identified as the second male in the fight.
According to Oxford police, the officer gave repeated verbal warnings to stop fighting or he would release the Taser. Reportedly, while Smith complied with the officer's commands, Piskura continued to fight. The Taser was then reportedly deployed on Piskura's upper chest, and he collapsed to the ground and was handcuffed.
At this point, officers allegedly noticed that Piskura had labored breathing and Oxford Life Squad transported him to McCullough-Hyde Hospital. Piskura was then flown to University Hospital.
OPD stated in a press release Saturday that witness testimonies and interviews have been collected in an internal review of the incident.
OPD's office manager Amy Gabbard said a police report would be released this week, as well as other public documents pertaining to the case.
The department declined to release the name of the arresting officer at this point of the investigation and declined to comment on questions related to the specific incident or the department's policy on the use of Tasers.
After an internal review is conducted, OPD Chief Steve Schwein asked that Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper conduct an independent review of the information gathered from the incident.
Piper said he has yet to receive much information on the incident.
"(OPD has) asked if I would look at the conclusions they've reached and give my opinions as to an assessment of what happened," Piper said. "I haven't received any information yet. I have received numerous phone calls but I don't have any substantive information at this point."
Piper said he expects the conclusions made by OPD's internal review will reach his office soon. He also noted that the conclusions from his review would not be ready for weeks because of other cases he is currently working on.
After Piper releases his review, he said it is up to OPD to use the assessment as the department sees fit.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 47
Hawkeye
posted 4/22/08 @ 8:26 AM EST
They don't find it necessary to note that he died yesterday morning?
carla42586
cr
posted 4/22/08 @ 10:13 AM EST
According to the Chicago Tribune website, he is still in critical condition as of this morning.
GR
posted 4/22/08 @ 10:16 AM EST
Is that true?
Clayton
posted 4/22/08 @ 10:40 AM EST
he's not dead, just in critical condition.
as someone who was standing outside 45 when this happened, "altercation" is definitely a jump, it was more like the kid and his friend were just horseplaying you know
jc
posted 4/22/08 @ 11:24 AM EST
chicago tribune update:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-kevin-piskura-080421-ht,0,6444558.story
nick
posted 4/22/08 @ 12:00 PM EST
cops should be allowed to tase only if the person is about to kill someone... this has gone far enough already
a
posted 4/22/08 @ 12:51 PM EST
absolutely disgusting, OPD are awful. not only do they fix little details of what happened in an incident to go in their favor (believe me it happened to me) when something happens, but when it comes to a situation like this i guarantee they will find some little justification for this seemingly over gratuitous use of force. (Continued…)
Andrew G
a
posted 4/22/08 @ 1:06 PM EST
reading about this is absolutely appalling, first of all i have never heard of someone going into critical condition after being tasered. Furthermore, the actions of the OPD during my tenure here at miami is just ridiculous. (Continued…)
Ingrid Chafee
posted 4/22/08 @ 2:07 PM EST
There has been deaths due to taser use. Here in the Atlanta area, the son of a colleague of mine was killed four or five years ago by use of a taser. (Continued…)
Zach Adriaenssens
posted 4/22/08 @ 4:42 PM EST
Pretty sure no one ever died from pepper spray...are Miami students really so dangerous as to call for tasers instead?
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