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A Florida deputy sheriff is facing criminal charges after using a stun gun near gasoline, setting fire to a severe 26-year-old suspect and injuring the deputy himself and two fellow police officers.
Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez told a news conference Thursday that Deputy David Crawford had been released on paid leave during an internal investigation and would face charges of negligence.
The sheriff said Crawford knew there was gas nearby when he tried to use an electric shocker against suspect Jean-Barrett during an arrest in February at the Wawa gas station in Orange County.
We know this because he tells the body camera, “Kill the pump, kill the pump!” Gas! ‘ Said the sheriff. “After that statement, he picked up the discarded Taser, which was in gas, and said, ‘You’re going to take Tased, dude.'”
Immediately afterwards, as the deputy held the taser, the fire ignited, Lopez said.
An unarmed driver asked to speak to the chief of police. The policeman used an electric shocker against him, a video shows.
Lawyers for the NeJame law firm, which represents Barretto, said their client had received third-degree burns on more than 75 percent of his body and was in hospital after the life-threatening injury.
“He is skinless for most of his body, his skin is burnt,” Barreto’s lawyers said in a statement. “He is undergoing procedures that require his dead skin to be routinely removed from his body. Every day it wraps and develops in gauze, bleeds profusely, as it does not have the necessary amount of skin to contain body fluids.
Lawyers called Taser’s use “reckless, stupid and unnecessary.”
Barreto is accused of fleeing and evading law enforcement, reckless driving, resisting non-violent arrest and being charged with the felony of killing three-wheelers on his motorcycle, according to indictment documents.
A teenager who cuts the bushes to visit his girlfriend is eventually shocked by the soldier’s taser
Officials from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said in an initial statement that there were numerous calls to 911 on February 27 that reported that motorcyclists were pointing weapons at people. “Citizens reported two Spanish-speaking men on dirty blue motorcycles pulling weapons on them and passengers in an additional innocent vehicle,” the sheriff said Thursday.
Upon arrival, several motorcyclists fled the scene, according to authorities.
Helicopter footage released by the sheriff’s office on Thursday appears to show lawmakers trying to stop a motorcyclist later identified by officials as Beretto. The rider released a bicycle and ran away from the deputies.
The rider joined other riders together intertwined and out of traffic – sometimes on the wrong side of the road. During the accident, the rider, identified as Beretto, was also spotted turning a number of stop lights.
The sheriff said he had “zero tolerance” for reckless driving.
“We will identify you. “We will catch you, even if you flee to another county, because the agency’s helicopters are chasing suspects all the time,” he told reporters.
Eventually, the rider was seen stopping at a Wawa gas station. As Barreto pumped gas, Crawford, the sheriff’s deputy, approached him on foot and tried to arrest him, the sheriff said. He said the deputy believes Barrett may have been armed because of 911 calls.
No weapons were found, authorities said.
Lopez, the sheriff, said camera footage showed that Barreto’s dirty motorcycle had fallen during the arrest attempt. As the gas cap was not attached, the fuel began to spill. Lopez said another deputy first used Taser on Barreto to get him to comply. Then Crawford shouted at the deputies: “Kill the pump! There’s gas! ”Lopez said.
At the time, the first deputy dropped the tazer and continued “on hand” with Barreto, Lopez said.
Lopez said Crawford picked up the taser and said, “You’ll take Tased again, dude.”
Separate videos from the ground show that a fireball exploded in the sky and at least two people fled into the fire. Lopez said Crawford and Barreto were “engulfed in flames”, but other lawmakers provided help immediately.
According to a recent report from the Florida Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives, the explosion was caused by an electric shock from Taser. Lopez said he did not dispute the findings, saying Crawford was facing charges of violating a policy that Taser should not be used around combustible materials.
Lopez said Crawford had not made a statement about the incident. “He claimed his rights. So I don’t know what was on his mind that day, “the sheriff said.
Lopez said no one had been arrested, but charges had been filed with the state prosecutor’s office.
Barreto’s lawyers called the allegations against their client “unjustified.”
“What crime did he commit that would make him even run away?” Why is such evidence hidden? He did not have a file or a firearm. He never even owned a gun and did not have one with him when it was set on fire, “they told The Washington Post.
After the press conference, Mark Necaem, one of Barrett’s lawyers, said his client had been “cooked alive” by the sheriff’s department’s “overzealous, irresponsible and illegal actions”.
“Their actions offend and slander mostly the good members of law enforcement, insofar as their reckless policies cripple, injure and kill our citizens,” he added.
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