State College police officer who fatally shot Osagie was not fit for duty, lawsuit alleges
A State College family alleged Monday that the former borough police officer who fatally shot their son was mentally unstable and violent, while at least one high-ranking officer failed to intervene.
The family of Osaze Osagie accused M. Jordan Pieniazek of “alcohol-fueled acts of domestic violence,” including using a pistol in a threatening manner in 2018.
Pieniazek exited a rehab facility days before the shooting, but continued drinking alcohol and acting erratically, family attorneys Andy Shubin, Kathleen Yurchak and Andrew Celli wrote in an amended 37-page federal lawsuit.
Pieniazek fatally shot Osagie, a 29-year-old Black man who police said moved toward them with a knife, three days after he returned to duty. He was a “ticking time bomb,” the trio wrote.
“Armed with a badge, a uniform and a gun, he was himself a threat to public safety,” the attorneys wrote in statement. “It cannot have come as a surprise to anyone who knew his history that he was the one who pulled the trigger four times and killed Osaze Osagie. The amended complaint filed by the Osagie family today tells the real story of why Osaze died on March 20, 2019.”
Osagie was in the midst of a mental health crisis when white officers Pieniazek, Sgt. Christopher Hill and Lt. Keith Robb responded to his Marvin Gardens apartment to serve a mental health warrant.
Osagie moved toward the officers in a narrow hallway with a steak knife in his right hand. Hill’s Taser was ineffective and Pieniazek fired and struck Osagie three times.
All three were cleared of wrongdoing by Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna, who said the shooting was justified.
State police at Rockview and a section of the state police that investigates potential racial bias also found the veteran officers responded properly.
“It is disappointing that — in a case where (the) plaintiffs are advocating for better understanding for those that may be suffering from personal issues — the amended complaint includes irrelevant and unfounded personal attacks on a person who has served his country in the military with honor and distinction, and his community as a police officer in which he has received numerous accolades, and protected and saved lives,” borough attorney David MacMain wrote.
Iyun and Sylvester Osagie wrote in a statement that the department’s “systemic failures (in) dealing with mental health issues” went beyond their son and extended to Pieniazek.
“The department failed this officer and, consequently, they failed our son,” they wrote. “The department should never have permitted him to go back in service without providing checks and balances to ensure his fitness to serve and the public’s safety.”
The family’s filing also casts doubt on the department’s internal investigation, which found the officers abided by the department’s policies.
The board’s inquiry was led by former Captain Chris Fishel, who the family said received eyewitness information about Pieniazek’s “red flags” in the weeks before the shooting but did not act.
A family friend reported Pieniazek’s excessive drinking, domestic abuse and mental state while he was in rehab, but Fishel did not document it as an official complaint, the attorneys wrote.
A witness contacted Fishel again after the shooting, but the family attorneys wrote Fishel urged the witness to not take any action because it would “complicate things.”
The department’s 25-page report, which was completed and signed by Fishel, did not include any witness information. The report only outlined one unfounded complaint lodged against Pieniazek.
Fishel retired in the fall after nearly three decades with the department. Pieniazek’s tenure with the department ended after he filed a disability claim “a few months after the shooting,” Shubin and Yurchak wrote.
“It’s unconscionable that the SCPD appointed Captain Fishel — a critical witness who possessed urgent and emergent fitness-for-duty information — to lead its investigation and author its report,” Yurchak and Shubin wrote. “A true and fair investigation would have required Captain Fishel to provide the eyewitness information to a neutral board and an unbiased chair. The Osagie family and the community at large had a right to know this information and the SCPD had an obligation to provide it.”
The borough settled a federal civil rights lawsuit in March 2014 against Pieniazek and another officer, according to court documents.
A case management conference set to be heard by federal Judge Matthew Brann was scheduled for Feb. 11. It’s unclear if the latest filing will delay the meeting.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 5:38 PM.