Officer Nugent was in a fight for what could have been his life against a much heavier suspect. His partner, who had recently undergone heart bypass surgery, could not step in to help. The officers had the proper warrants for Pikes on possession of cocaine charges when they attempted to arrest him just outside of a local shopping center in January.

Nugent’s attorney, Phillip Terrell, stated that the suspect was fighting Nugent “on uneven ground” where there were dangerous objects like concrete blocks and barbed wire.

According to Winnfield Police Lt. Chuck Curry, “He would not stop for the officer. At some point in there, he was Tased to bring him under control, and several hours later, died at the emergency room.”

Coroner Williams stated that Nugent fired his Taser six times in less than three minutes; the data was documented by the computer chip housed in the body of the weapon. Officers then put Pikes in the back of a cruiser and transported him to the station where Nugent put the Taser against the suspect’s chest and fired a seventh time.

In September of 2007 an assault case in Jena, 45 miles to the southeast, sparked a demonstration which swelled to an estimated 15,000 people. Winnfield, famous as the birthplace of governors Huey and Earl Long, is typically a quiet town.

Curry said race “isn’t an issue at all,” despite a racially charged atmosphere in the town which is about 100 miles southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana.