Fla. cop on leave in tasing of woman, 61

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — An officer who used a Taser on a 61-year-old woman in the back was placed on administrative leave Wednesday pending the outcome of an internal-affairs investigation.

A nearly seven-minute video, which was recorded by an onlooker with his cellphone, shows Officer Terry Mahan tasing Viola Young in the back Tuesday as she walked away from him in the middle of a city street in broad daylight. Young went motionless before falling face-first onto the pavement.

Police Chief Michael DeLeo held a middle-of-the-night news conference to announce the measures taken against Mahan. The department also released the cellphone video, posting it to the department's YouTube channel.

The incident, which happened about 5:20 p.m. 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."

Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo announces Oct. 1, 2014, an internal investigation of an officer's use of force in tasing of woman in her 60s.(Photo: The Tallahassee Democrat)

Letitia Hills, who witnessed a portion of the incident, pointed out that Dunn Street has no sidewalks and residents have no choice but to walk in the street. She and others expressed outrage at how police handled the situation.

"I know they have a job to do, but when you're just bothering innocent people and harassing the people that live in the community, that's just outrageous," said Hills, 41. "What are we supposed to do when we're walking? You don't even want to walk out in the street — you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know if you're going to be harassed or arrested or what. You just don't know."

Viola Young was arrested along with her daughter, Laguna Young, 41, her grandson, Quontarrious Jones, 23, and her granddaughter, Quaneshia Rivers, 20. All four have been released from jail.

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Laguna Young said she was coming back from a nearby convenience store with her son and daughter and her granddaughter, a toddler, when an officer approached in his vehicle and tried to talk to her son. Her son didn't want to talk to the officer, she said.

"When my son jumped back, I guess that's when (the officer) got mad," Laguna Young said. When the officer told Jones he was under arrest, family members protested.

"We said we didn't even do anything," Laguna Young said. "How are we under arrest?"

Laguna Young said she called her mother on a cell phone to tell her what was going on. Viola Young came to the scene to find out what was happening and to retrieve her great-granddaughter.

After the tasing, all four of the family members were taken to Lincoln Neighborhood Center to get them and officers away from the area, according to police reports, because of "the hostility of the individuals remaining on the scene."

Once at the neighborhood center, Laguna Young said they were forced to remain in hot police vehicles without air-conditioning. She was worried about her mother, whose blood pressure was spiking from the stress.

The incident was the latest to raise questions about the police department'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 multicity tour to meet with mayors, said Wednesday 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."

Tasing came after arrests

While Jones was being arrested, Laguna Young 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."

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."