Florida Police Officers Taser Elderly Man Offering No Resistance [Video]

Controversy has erupted after a new video uploaded to YouTube showed two Florida police officers taser an elderly man who has his hands up in the air. According to Sky News, the video was uploaded to YouTube yesterday and has already been watched over 60,000 times, as it immediately gained traction and went viral.

There is no information, however, as to the actual location where this incident took place, although initial reports say it happened in Key West. The identity of the elderly man who was tasered also remains a mystery. It is also unclear who took the video, although it is evident that it was captured by a man along with a woman sitting inside a vehicle. A man’s voice is also occasionally heard. In fact, towards the end, the man is heard saying;

“I hope we don’t get harassed because I’m recording this.”

In the video, you can clearly see the elderly man getting out of the vehicle with his hands raised. He is visibly offering no resistance to the officer who asked him to get out. Just after he is out of the vehicle, the second police officer comes from behind and fires the taser at the elderly man. The man writhes in pain, lets out a scream, and immediately falls to the ground, after which the officers handcuff him. Meanwhile, the people in the car remain shocked. One woman is heard saying, “Is he alive?” after the mans body is seen motionless on the tarmac.

The only official response from the Florida State Highway Patrol is that they are still “investigating” the incident. Sky News spoke to Captain Nancy Rasmussen of the Florida State Highway Patrol who confirmed that after an investigation, a decision on whether the police offices involved in the case would face disciplinary action will be taken.

At this stage, it is also unclear as to why the elderly man was pulled over and why the officers had to use brute force on a man who could have been easily overpowered by the young officers. At the end of the video, the uploader also talked about the fact that tasers – which the police consider to be a “non-lethal” weapon – has been responsible for the deaths of over 634 people in the United States. Besides, using tasers on elderly people also increases the risk of them going into a cardiac arrest, says a report by The Free Thought Project.

The shocking video showing the elderly man being tasered has emerged at a time when there has been lots of controversy on the use of excessive force by police against suspects across the United States. In fact, just a few days ago, the Inquisitr had reported about another incident in which police officers in Pasco, Washington shot and killed an unarmed man who was running away from them with his hands raised. In another incident, another elderly man, a 78-year-old, was tasered when he was having a diabetic fit.

[Image Via YouTube]