TASER Tragedy Fallout

NYPD:

* The man was naked, teetering on a building ledge and jabbing at police with an 8-foot-long fluorescent light bulb as a crowd gathered below.

Lt. Michael Pigott responded by ordering an officer to fire a stun gun at the man, who froze and plunged headfirst to his death in a scene captured on amateur video and replayed frequently on the Internet.

The officer was remorseful and distraught. He apologized and sought the family's forgiveness. Then he went to his unit's headquarters Thursday morning, his 46th birthday, and fatally shot himself just hours before the family laid the victim to rest.

A horrible outcome to what was pretty much a no-win situation. If the subject fell before police took action, cops would be blamed. If the police backed off and the subject hurt himself or others, cops would be blamed. If the cops put hands on the subject and anyone got hurt, cops would be blamed. Beanbags, TASERs, OC, any of the supposedly "less-that-lethal" options don't really work when a subject is 10 feet in the air waving broken glass around. And waiting him out isn't a realistic option when dealing with an emotionally disturbed person.

But pushing the Lieutenant over the edge by stripping him of police power and looking into criminal charges for what was essentially him looking out for his guys and possibly failing to appreciate the damage a fall could do is a failure of the disciplinary system. Obviously, the subject didn't deserve to die. But the Lieutenant didn't deserve to feel he had only one way out of a single questionable judgment call.

NEW YORK POST