Police Offer Tased Austin Teen For No Reason, Lawsuit

An African-American teenager and his family filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against the City of Austin for what they call unjustified actions by an Austin police officer who tased the teen for no apparent reason. 

Jeff Edwards, the family's lawyer, released a cell phone video shot by the teen's mother, Latasha Alexander 

 “I look at a lot of videos, my attorneys look at a lot of videos, this is as bad as it gets," said Edwards. 

It all started from everything I have gathered after the mother contacted police for a welfare check on her son, who she believed might be in need of a mental health professional, and it went down hill from there. The lawsuit claims when police arrived, the police officer tased Alexander's son in the hallway outside of their apartment and "stood over him as he writhed in pain," the lawsuit said. 

 

"While this young man, who was 17 years old, and had done, let me repeat this, had done absolutely nothing wrong was tasered and then crumpled down into a ball, it’s a serious damage," said Edwards. 

According to Edwards, the teen was unarmed, with his hands at his sides, and was "standing peacefully" when he was tased in northwest Austin near Avery Ranch. Alexander said her son was not arrested and was not suspected of committing a crime.

"My firm is asked to watch lots of videos showing police misconduct, and this is one of the worst," said Edwards. "This young man did absolutely nothing wrong. Unfortunately, this case is another example of how black and white citizens of Austin are treated radically differently by the police. This officer should have been disciplined immediately."

Edwards said he feels race played into the incident. 

“The way that excessive force is evaluated, just so you know, is the moment that the force is utilized, if when the force is used, the young man, or whomever poses a threat to the officer or to someone else, a physical violent threat, then a force like that is justified,” said Edwards. 

You can read more about this developing story by clicking here, and also watch the video. 

There's more information here as well,  https://kxan.com/2018/01/25/livestream-alleged-police-brutality-victim-files-lawsuit-against-apd/