Taser death in troubled townSome smell a cover-up in Winnfield, La., which is no stranger to scandal. Police shocked Baron Pikes nine times in 14 minutes.By Howard Witt, Chicago Tribune July 20, 2008 WINNFIELD, LA. -- At 1:28 p.m. on Jan. 17, Baron "Scooter" Pikes was a healthy 21-year-old. By 2:07 p.m., he was dead.

What happened in the 39 minutes in between -- during which Pikes was handcuffed by police and shocked nine times with a Taser while reportedly pleading for mercy -- is spawning suspicions of a political cover-up in this lumber town infamous for backroom dealings.

Racial tensions also are mounting; Pikes was black and the officer involved is white.

No novelist could have invented Winnfield, the birthplace of two of Louisiana's most colorful and notorious governors -- Huey and Earl Long.

The police chief committed suicide three years ago after losing a close election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-buying. Just four months later, the district attorney killed himself after allegedly skimming $200,000 from his office budget and extorting payments from criminal defendants to make their cases go away.

The current police chief is a convicted drug offender pardoned by then-Gov. Edwin Edwards, who is in federal prison for corruption convictions.

All that history is wrapped up in the Pikes case because the officer in question, Scott Nugent, is the son of the former chief who killed himself and the protege of the current chief, who hired him.

"A lot happens in this town and it just gets swept under the rug," said Kayshon Collins, Pikes' stepmother, who has participated in several protests over the case.

"What the police did to Scooter just isn't right. They would never have Tasered a white kid like that."

Conflicting information

According to the local newspaper, Winnfield Police Chief Johnny Ray Carpenter said Nugent spotted Pikes walking along the street that afternoon and attempted to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for drug possession; Pikes took off running, but another officer cornered him outside a nearby grocery store. Pikes resisted arrest and Nugent subdued him with a shock from a Taser.

On the way to the police station, Carpenter said, Pikes fell ill and told the officers he suffered from asthma and was high on crack cocaine and PCP. The officers called for an ambulance. Pikes died at the hospital.

The Louisiana State Police are investigating, and Nugent has not been charged with a crime in the case. The City Council fired him in May. Winn Parish District Atty. Chris Nevils said he expected to present the case to a grand jury after receiving the results of the state police investigation.

An autopsy determined there were no drugs in Pikes' system and that he did not have asthma, according to Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner.

Moreover, according to Nugent's police report, Pikes did not resist arrest, and he was handcuffed while lying on the ground.

It was after Pikes refused Nugent's command to stand up that the officer applied the first Taser shock in the middle of his back, Nugent wrote.

Several more Taser shocks followed, Nugent stated, because Pikes kept falling down and refusing to get back up. Grocery shoppers who witnessed the incident told Pikes' family that he had pleaded with Nugent: "Please, you all got me. Please don't Tase me again."

Williams said police records showed Nugent administered nine Taser shocks to Pikes over a 14-minute period. The last two jolts, delivered as police pulled Pikes from a patrol car at the police station, occurred while the suspect was unconscious, Williams said.

Police called for an ambulance after Pikes was carried into the station and slumped into a chair.

He was pronounced dead soon afterward. Received on Wed Jul 23 12:13:50 2008