A Tallahassee, Fla., police officer is on administrative leave while the department’s Internal Affairs investigates his use of a stun gun on a 62-year-old woman on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.
The incident prompted a Wednesday news conference by police Chief Michael DeLeo, who affirmed that Internal Affairs would look into it after a video taken from a nearby porch surfaced. "Based on the video, I have enough concerns to call for an internal investigation," DeLeo said, according to AP. "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, including the video."
"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," he continued.
The incident reportedly started when the officers went to investigate complaints about drug deals going down in the neighborhood, just blocks away from the governor’s mansion, AP reports. Two women and a man were arrested, at which point the 62-year-old woman, Viola Young, walked up to one of the police cars and asked about one of those arrested.
"I just want to know what is going on," Young allegedly shouted, even as one of the officers instructed her to stay back. After that encounter, Officer Terry Mahan allegedly tried to take the woman into custody.
According to AP, Young appeared to be leaving the scene as the officer deployed his stun gun, hitting her in the back and causing the woman to fall flat to the ground on her face.
In the video, officers swarm her before helping her up and taking her to the squad car. The person who shot the footage could be heard criticizing, "They just tased a lady for nothing. They wonder why they're hated."
Young was reportedly cleared by paramedics and was taken down to the Leon County Jail, where she was charged with resisting and obstructing an officer without violence, AP notes.
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