A Florida police officer has been placed on administrative leave after footage of an incident surfaced showing him tasing a 62-year-old African-American woman who can be seen walking away from him, posing no immediate threat to the officer or his colleagues.
The woman who was tased, Viola Young, was treated on the scene and arrested with three others and charged with resisting arrest “without violence,” according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Here’s footage of the incident (tasing occurs at the 02:33 mark). Warning: Video contains graphic language. Viewer discretion advised:
Officer Terry Mahan has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo announced during an emergency press conference at 3:15 Wednesday morning.
“Based on the video, I have enough concerns to call for an internal investigation and have Officer Mahan put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation,” DeLeo said. “We will conduct a thorough investigation into this incident. We want to be transparent with the community by sharing what we can at this point.”
He added: “The investigation will determine if the officer’s actions were legal and if those actions were consistent with the expectations I have set for our officers in terms of how we respect and treat our citizens.”
Tuesday’s tasing event was the result of law enforcement officials dealing with pedestrians loitering in the street.
From the Tallahassee Democrat:
The officer, according to court documents, got out of his car and approached Quontarrious Jones, 23, and ordered him to stop walking multiple times. Jones was arrested on a charge of resisting without violence.
Nearby pedestrians, Laguna Young, 41, who has also been charged with a probation violation, and Quaneshia Rivers, 20, started to shout at the police officers during Jones’ arrest, so they were also arrested for “resisting without violence.”
After Rivers and Young were arrested, Viola Young approached the police officers and demanded to know what was happening in her neighborhood.
“I just want to know what is going on,” she can be heard yelling in the video.
Young was told she was under arrest, according to police officials, and that’s when she decided to walk away from Officer Mahan, prompting the Florida officer to tase her in the back.
Young was later handcuffed and arrested.
Mahan in a probable-cause affidavit explained why he tased the 62-year-old woman: “Viola Young caused me to take my focus off of one of the arrestees and engage her. Young’s actions obstructed officers while in the course of completing their legal duties.”
Prior to the tasing incident, the neighborhood where the Young was tased, the 500 block of Dunn Street, was put under close police surveillance due to complaints of “open-air drug sales,” the Tallahassee police chief explained.
