Unarmed black man tasered by police in the back while sitting on a curb

Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by dont_tread_on_dc

A Pennsylvania mayor has responded to a viral video showing a police officer tasing an unarmed black man who was siting down on a sidewalk curb in the back.

Danene Sorace, the mayor of Lancaster, said that an investigation into the incident on Thursday made her upset, and that the video has reaffirmed her commitment to deploy body cameras to all officers in the City of Lancaster.

“Like you, when I saw the video I was upset by it and it is of great concern to me,” Ms Sorace said in her statement. “We take the use of force very seriously”.

A video of the incident captured by a bystander shows the man, later identified as 27-year-old Sean Williams, sitting down on the curb with his arms outstretched and resting on his knees.

Officers repeatedly tell him to extend his legs straight out, and he then extends them slightly. When an officer tells him to cross his legs, his feet move towards each other and the officer shoots the electric charge into his back.

The video, posted originally on Facebook, quickly went viral online, attracting more than 115,000 views and 3,600 shares.

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A post by the police department indicated that they had been called to the site, and were warned that Mr Williams had been threatening individuals in the area, including with a bat. The post notes that a bat was not found nearby.

The police continued to say that Mr Williams refused to comply with an initial officer, who does not appear to be in the video, before a second arrived and instructed Mr Williams again to sit, which he did.

“Non-compliance is often a precursor to someone that is preparing to flee or fight with Officers,” the police statement said.

Mr Williams was evaluated by medical professionals after he was tased, and was then arrested on an outstanding criminal warrant for his arrest on charges of possession of a controlled substance and public drunkenness.

He was later released on unsecured $5,000 bail.

Scottz0rz on June 29th, 2018 at 15:24 UTC »

"Stick your legs out and cross th- I DIDN'T SAY SIMON SAYS MOTHERFUCKER STOP RESISTING"

InfiNorth on June 29th, 2018 at 14:52 UTC »

"He wasn't listening"

Yeah, that was always my first excuse for tasering someone.

pappy on June 29th, 2018 at 14:32 UTC »

What I heard was:

Male officer repeatedly telling him to straighten his legs.

He does move his legs out, not quite straight.

Female offier tells him to cross his legs.

He crosses his legs, and male officer tases him.

Upon multiple playbacks I think she says "Straight out, uncross them now" but I initially heard "Straight out and cross them now." It's a confusing way to give a direction. A person could easily mis-hear that cop's direction under the stress of the situation.

Edit: Another redditor thinks she wanted the legs straight out, and then placed one over the other, I guess technically crossed. It's just the opposite of how a lot of people think of crossed legs (crossed legs for sitting, legs pulled in, the opposite of straight). You can see why this was a confusing direction, even if it was correctly heard.

It reminds me of Raising Arizona.