NEW YORK — The New York Police Department lieutenant who authorized the use of a stun gun during a fatal police confrontation last month with a naked Brooklyn psychiatric patient committed suicide Thursday morning, police said.
On his 46th birthday, Lt. Michael Pigott of Sayville, N.Y., fatally shot himself in a locker room at Floyd Bennett Field, the Brooklyn base for the elite Emergency Service Unit, police said.
Pigott “gained access to another officer’s locker and gun and shot himself in the head,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.
Another officer found Pigott, who used a 9mm Glock, shortly after 6 a.m., police said.
Cop apologized
In an interview with Newsday this week, Pigott apologized for authorizing an NYPD officer to use the Taser on Sept. 24 on Iman Morales, 35, who was standing on a ledge 10 feet off the ground at the time and fell to his death. NYPD protocol states that when possible police should not use stun guns on anyone on an elevated surface.
“I am truly sorry for what happened to Mr. Morales,” Pigott told Newsday on Tuesday outside his home.
The lieutenant’s death came just hours before Morales’ funeral Mass in Greenwich Village and burial in Linden, N.J.
“It’s horrible,” Morales’ aunt, Ann DeJesus Negron, said after the funeral. “This is not the justice we want. This really disturbs the whole family. This is not something we would want anyone to go through.”
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly released a statement Thursday morning acknowledging Pigott’s death.
“On behalf of all of the members of the New York City Police Department, I extend deepest condolences to the family and friends of Lt. Michael W. Pigott, who served with dedication for 21 years,” Kelly said.
Gun, shield taken away
After Morales’ death, Pigott was reassigned to Fleet Services in Queens, with his gun and shield taken away, and Officer Nicholas Marchesona, who used the Taser, was placed on desk duty.
Pigott and Marchesona had gone for counseling after the stun-gun incident, a police source said.
NYPD counselors will meet again with Marchesona to check on his well-being, the source said.
Morales died last week after he held Emergency Services officers at bay for 20 minutes, standing on a vacant storefront’s security-gate container below a fire escape, and swinging a fluorescent lightbulb.
Marchesona shot Morales with a Taser, causing his body to stiffen and fall head-first 10 feet to the ground.
Police brass have conceded that the Taser, which sends 5,000 volts of electricity through its target, should not have been used until air bags were placed beneath the fire escape.
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office and the NYPD are investigating.
