A Florida state trooper repeatedly tased a biracial teenager who was peacefully waiting outside his girlfriend’s house in Fort Meyers because the trooper believed that the teen looked “suspicious.” The trooper charged the 16-year-old Jack Rodeman with resisting arrest even though the teen never resists on the house surveillance video, notes the CBS Evening News.
The teen had permission to wait on the deck outside his girlfriend’s house, but the trooper pursued him anyway. He was texting his girlfriend when the trooper arrived. The trooper told Rodeman to put his hands behind his back, and Rodeman responded: “I didn’t do nothing…” The trooper then electrocuted the teen.
Rodeman’s mother told WEAR that her son will be in jail for 21 days:
I mean my son was just standing there on his phone. He wasn’t reaching in his pockets. The officer there was no threat to that officer.
The trooper said the teen was a suspicious person dressed in black, which is not a crime. The trooper also claimed the teen “darted” and hid in the bushes when he saw the patrol car, also not a crime. The trooper said that he was somehow forced to tase the teen when he didn’t put his hands behind his back (based on the Trooper’s imagination and possible bigotry).
(Sources: CBS Evening News, WEAR)