Jonathan Miller, a black man, was tased Thursday evening in Prairie View, Texas after some of his guests were questioned in front of his home about drug activity. It's not clear what happened or why the officers were at his house but for some reason the officers decided at some point to arrest Miller. Miller, who currently serves as a Councilperson for the town, passively refused to put his hands behind his back, saying
Officer, please do not put your hands on me!" Miller, 26, begs at one point in the video. "I live here.
To no avail. In the video the woman officer can be heard saying
Okay, he's going to have to taser you.
And immediately thereafter, despite no threat of violence, the other officer goes ahead and tases him. Because. Compliance.
The partner of the officer who tased Miller has been identified as the same officer who came onto the Sandra Bland scene after she had been pulled over by Officer Encina and forcibly moved to the sidewalk.
There is video. It is not embeddable (yet). Perhaps it will go up on Youtube soon. You can find the video and the newspaper story here.
Here's a still from the cellphone video:
The only surprising thing about this is that neither of the officers said
"I'm going to light you up!"
Sat Oct 10, 2015 at 7:00 PM PT: More information about the stop from ABC News
Miller's friends told KTRK they were hanging out at the house when several of them went outside to change their shoes. Police pulled up and asked what they were doing, said the friends, and Miller came out to check on them.
... in a statement released Friday and obtained by KTRK, the police said: "After repeated commands to step back, Mr. Miller was told that he was being placed under arrest for interfering with the investigation. Once officers attempted to arrest Miller, he physically resisted. Mr. Miller continued to resist, even after repeated commands to stop."
...
Miller was booked Friday by the Prairie View Police Department on charges of interfering with public duties and resisting arrest, search or transport, according to jail records. He was released Friday on $1,000 personal recognizance bond, records showed.
A Video of Mr. Miller after he was released.
9:39 AM PT: Video of the Tasing:
Video has emerged showing a Texas city councilman being tased in the back by a police officer while on his knees Thursday night.