White Fla. Cop Fired After Tasing Man Whose Hands Were Up

Zephyrhills, Fla., Police Chief David Shears announced Friday that he has fired an officer after observing body-cam footage of him tasing a black man whose hands were raised in surrender as he stood inside the door of his home, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Suggested Reading The Root 100 – 2020 Black History Month –…

Zephyrhills, Fla., Police Chief David Shears announced Friday that he has fired an officer after observing body-cam footage of him tasing a black man whose hands were raised in surrender as he stood inside the door of his home, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

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Calling it the "right thing," Shears said he fired Tim Claussen over the Sept. 9 incident involving 42-year-old Lester Brown. In the video, the officer can be heard ordering the man to step through the door while Claussen points a Taser at him, the report says.

After Brown, whose hands were still raised, questioned the officer about what was going on, Claussen became impatient and fired his weapon, hitting Brown in the abdomen.

“Come outside now,” Claussen can be heard saying, notes the report, “or you’re about to get tased. This is the last time.

“You just made it a lot worse on yourself, Mr. Brown,” the officer said as the man struggled in pain on  the floor.

Read more at the Tampa Bay Times.

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