A video appears to show two Florida police officers punching and using a Taser on a teen after trying to remove him from an apartment complex.
The incident occurred Monday when Lakeland officers were called to the pool at the Caroline Apartments after a caller reported that non-residents were using the pool, according to an arrest report obtained by the Daily Caller in response to a request for comment.
A 16-year-old boy, who police later identified as Jahmal Hudson, refused to provide police with his apartment number or his information, prompting the officer to contact the complex’s manager. The manager told police to cite anyone who didn’t live there for trespass, the arrest report noted.
An officer at the scene “informed Hudson that [he] was verbally trespassing him from the complex,” the report stated.
“I gave Hudson several more lawful orders to exit the property or he would be arrested,” the officer involved wrote in the arrest report. “Hudson continued to ignore my verbal commands and stuck his hand in my face, while stating ‘I don’t have to talk to you.’”
“I decided at this time to take Hudson into custody for trespassing,” the officer wrote. “I attempted to grab Hudson by his right arm, but he immediately tensed his body and attempted to pull away from my grasp. I informed Hudson he was under arrest and to stop resisting.”
While in the officer’s grasp, Hudson allegedly flailed his arms towards both officers at the scene, “almost striking [them] in [their] facial area several times,” the arrest report stated. The officer wrote he was struck “in [his] facial area one time with [Hudson’s] closed fist.”
The initial altercation of the officer being struck was not captured on video, FOX8 noted.
In the video, one officer appears to be grabbing Hudson’s arm while the other has a grip on his hair. The officer holding his arm then appears to strike Hudson in the head repeatedly. The teen hits back, and moments later, the second officer begins punching him.
The second officer appears to hit Hudson directly in the face. The other officer then draws his Taser and fires it at the 16-year-old, who falls to the ground. The officer proceeds to place his knee on Hudson’s neck and force Hudson’s arm behind his back while the other officer aims a Taser at the boy.
Hudson was taken to a local hospital “for medical clearance” before being transferred to a Juvenile Assessment Center, the arrest report stated. (RELATED: Wild Video Shows Police Officers Unloading Punches On Inmate During Texas Prison Brawl).
“I couldn’t stomach the fact that two LPD officers literally battered my son,” Hudson’s mother, Jactae Lewis, told WFLA News.
“It shouldn’t have led to this,” Lewis told WFLA News. “If these are kids, and these are two adults literally jumping my son.”
The arrest report notes that the officers involved used “several closed fist strikes and one
Taser deployment” against Hudson.
“Chief of Police, Sam Taylor has requested an administrative review by our Office of Professional Standards,” the Lakeland Police Department (LPD) said in a statement to the Daily Caller. The LPD told the Daily Caller there will not be additional information released until the administrative review of the case is completed.
Hudson faces charges of resisting an officer with violence, failure to leave property, trespass, and battery on a law enforcement officer, the arrest report stated.
