Their attorney Craig Bashein filed a new lawsuit Monday — just under the one-year deadline for refiling — seeking in excess of $50,000 against the city.
In April 2008, 24-year-old Kevin Piskura was shot with a Taser outside the Brick Street Bar at around 2 a.m., while police were trying to break up a fight. Piskura, of Chicago, went into cardiac arrest at the scene and died five days later at University Hospital in Cincinnati.
The allegations against the city and police department are that excessive force was used and the city failed to adequately train, supervise and control its employees, among other complaints.
Oxford City Manager Doug Elliott said the re-filed lawsuit comes as no surprise.
“We knew the deadline was approaching, and we knew one of two things was going to happen, and it turns out they refiled it,” he said. “I don’t know that I was terribly surprised, but it is what it is.”
If the verdict ultimately goes against the city, taxpayer money would not be used to satisfy the judgement. The city’s insurance policy would pay the award, according to Elliott.
The lawsuit against Taser International Inc. claims the Scottsdale, Ariz., company manufactured a defective and dangerous product.
The company sought to have the case dismissed for a number of reasons, including evidence they have that shows two prongs allegedly didn’t enter Piskura’s body, so no electrical charge could have caused his heart to stop.
However, Magistrate Karen L. Litkovitz, in a 40-page ruling in October, said there is also evidence to the contrary. Several people at the scene and in the emergency room have said two marks from the Taser darts could be seen on the young man’s body, police said two wires were in Piskura’s chest, and that he dropped immediately after he was Tased, which is what usually happens when someone is stunned.
The judge has not yet signed off on the company’s motion to dismiss.
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