Funeral Held for ‘Stun Gun” Policeman

There was no way Lt. Michael Piggot could have foreseen what transpired moments after giving the order for officers to fire a Taser at a mentally disturbed man. When the man felt the effects of the stun gun, he pitched forward over the balcony railing and fell to his death.

The citizen was clearly unbalanced. He was standing on the balcony, naked, waving an eight foot long fluorescent light tube at officers on a nearby fire escape. Although officers on the ground called for an inflatable cushion, it had not arrived by the time the Taser projectiles were deployed. Iman Morales, age thirty-five, fell ten feet hitting his head on the pavement.

Piggot, a much decorated officer who had six years in the New York Police Department Emergency Services Unit, was simply unable to handle the strain of it all. He was put on desk duties and took a few days off. The department also provided counseling to help him regain his equilibrium, but it wasn’t enough. On his forty-sixth birthday, last Thursday, he penned a note which he left by pictures of his children. It said he could not bear the thought of his children seeing him in handcuffs.

According to Detective Stephen, Piggot seemed upset because the department reassigned him and took his weapon while the incident was under investigation.