Officer Terry Mahan has been
placed on administrative leave after a Tuesday incident in which he tased a
woman in the back while she walked away from him.
The Tallahassee Police
Department moved swiftly Wednesday to get out in front of its latest
controversy — the tasing of a 61-year-old woman in the back as she walked away
from an officer in the middle of a city street in broad daylight.
The incident, which was
recorded by an onlooker with his cell phone, prompted TPD Chief Michael DeLeo
to hold a middle-of-the-night news conference to announce that the officer
involved, Terry Mahan, was being placed on paid administrative leave pending
the outcome of an internal-affairs investigation.
TPD also released the
cell-phone video, posting it to the department's YouTube channel. The nearly
seven-minute video shows Mahan tasing Viola Young, who went motionless before
falling face-first onto the pavement.
The incident, which happened
about 5:20 p.m. on Dunn Street in Frenchtown, sparked vocal outrage among those
who witnessed it. One woman can be heard on the video repeatedly screaming,
"Oh my God!"
"They just tased a lady
for nothing," one man can be heard saying on the video. "They wonder
why they're hated."
DeLeo, in the news conference,
said that based on the video, he had "enough concerns" to place Mahan
on leave and conduct an internal investigation.
"We will conduct a
thorough investigation into this incident," he said. "We want to be
transparent with the community by sharing what we can at this point. 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."
The incident was the latest to
raise questions about TPD's use-of-force tactics. Earlier this month,
Tallahassee city commissioners voted to settle a federal lawsuit for $475,000
brought by Christina West, a Tallahassee woman who suffered broken bones and
other injuries during her DUI arrest in August 2013.
In that case, which was also
caught on video, West alleged her civil rights had been violated and excessive
force used during her arrest, which happened after she crashed her SUV into an
unoccupied home. Four officers were suspended and one, Chris Ormerod, was later
fired, though TPD said it was over unrelated traffic crashes.
The West case led to the ouster
of TPD Chief Dennis Jones. DeLeo, hired late last year, has since been trying
to repair the Police Department's relationship with the community. TPD also
changed its use-of-force protocols, calling for officers to "de-escalate"
encounters with citizens or suspects.
Robert A. "Gus"
Harper III, a Tallahassee attorney representing Young, could not discuss the
extent of her injuries. Young was treated at the scene before she was taken to
the Leon County Jail on a charge of resisting an officer without violence. She
was released after posting bail.
Harper said Young was
"very emotional" after the incident and spent Wednesday with family.
He added he was still trying to piece together what happened.
"I know what I've seen on
the video," he said. "My gut reaction is sort of like everyone else's
— it looks like an instrument that is used to deter violence is being used as a
weapon. I think that goes against the spirit of the whole concept of
Tasers."
He couldn't say whether Young would
sue the Police Department, saying his foremost concern now is representing her
in criminal proceedings.
"All options are on the
table," Harper said. "The big thing is we just want to make sure that
these types of things don't happen and that we can start rebuilding our trust
in TPD."
The Rev. Ernest Farrell,
president of the Tallahassee Urban League, said Chief DeLeo emailed him about
the tasing Wednesday morning.
"I think there has to be
some serious sensitivity training with some of the officers," Farrell
said. "This kind of thing is unacceptable."
Dale Landry, president of the
Tallahassee branch of the NAACP, said the video appeared to show officers
escalating the situation and losing control. He called for a quick
investigation by TPD and said State Attorney Willie Meggs should drop charges
against Young.
"We've got to change this
culture," Landry said. "It's pervasive in police around the nation.
We've seen it. We've got to change this culture where we have folks that are
being hurt in this manner openly."
Meggs said he wasn't currently
planning to take the incident to a grand jury for review, though he said,
"It may develop so much public interest that I do." He added that
DeLeo called him Wednesday morning to tell him what happened.
He said DeLeo is doing his best
"to get control of that agency and get it functioning properly."
Mayor-elect Andrew Gillum, who
was in Chattanooga, Tenn., as part of a multi-city tour to meet with mayors,
said Wednesday afternoon that he had not yet seen the video. He said he found
out about it via text message from City Manager Anita Favors Thompson and later
talked to DeLeo.
"I stand 100-percent
behind (DeLeo's) actions," Gillum said. "I have to believe that he
has more access to more information than I do right now."
City Commissioner Nancy Miller
acknowledged that would harm public perception of the Police Department.
"We're trying to build
trust," she said. "This is taking us in the wrong direction."
City Commissioner Gil Ziffer
said he was disturbed by the video footage and hoped TPD wouldn't take long to
determine exactly what happened."
"I have great confidence
in our chief of police," Ziffer said. "I think he's trying to develop
policies that are right for our community."
Incident started with people
walking in road
The incident happened about
5:20 p.m. in the 500 block of Dunn Street off Old Bainbridge Road, DeLeo said.
The officer, according to court
documents, got out of his car and approached Quontarrious Jones, 23, and
ordered him multiple times to stop walking. Jones was arrested on a charge of
resisting without violence. Several people were walking in the street but moved
out of the way when another officer drove past them, according to court
documents. They walked back into the street behind behind the officer, who
pulled over and approached them.
While Jones was being arrested,
Laguna Young, 41, and Quaneshia Rivers, 20, both started yelling at the
officers, according to police reports. They, too, were arrested for resisting
without violence. Young also was arrested on a charge of probation violation.
Shortly after the arrests,
Viola Young approached officers and started yelling at them as they commanded a
crowd to stay back from the area, according to court documents. Mahan told her
to stay back.
Court documents say she shouted
at officers, "I just want to know what is going on."
Mahan told her she was under
arrest, but Young moved away from him. As she was walking away, Mahan pulled
out his taser and fired it into her back. Young appeared on the video to fall
face-first into the pavement as neighbors watched. She rolled over onto her
back while moving her arms. Police handcuffed her and put her in the back of a
squad car.
Mahan, in a probable-cause
affidavit, explained what led to the use of force on Young.
"Viola Young caused me to
take my focus off of one of the arrestees and engage her," Mahan wrote.
"Young's actions obstructed officers while in the course of completing
their legal duties."
The 500 block of Dunn Street
was under patrol by TPD's Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving Squad
due to recent complaints from citizens about open-air drug sales, DeLeo said.
Video shooter tells his side of
story
Pouchon Richard, who shot the
video, said in an interview that five people including a child were walking
down the street when an officer pulled up and asked them to step out of the
road. They replied by saying they had no other place to walk.
The officer got out of his car
and tried to arrest one of the people in the street, Pouchon said, "And
when he did that, it kind of escalated because everyone else was like, 'Why are
you arresting him? Why are you arresting him?'"
He said onlookers were in shock
because they didn't think anyone had done anything wrong.
"I was enraged, but what
can you do?" Richard asked. "That's why I put the video up — to make
sure the world sees it and make sure ... somebody can do something about
it."
