An Arkansas cop tasered a man in the back before telling him he was under arrest, causing the man to drop to the ground while yelling out in pain.
When the man’s friends questioned why he would taser him, Blytheville police officer Stephen Sigman said, “cause I said he was under arrest and he kept walking.”
He then looked down at Chardrick Mitchell, who was laying on the ground with taser prongs in his back, and said, “I said you’re under arrest, it’s all on video.”
But his body cam footage shows that Sigman said, “hey, turn around,” as Mitchell was walking away.
He then tasered him, then said, “you’re under arrest.”
The incident is another example of how police are so sure of themselves when they lie that they assure witnesses that it’s all on video when the video shows they lied as we saw in another tasering incident out of Georgia last week.
The incident took place on the Fourth of July after Sigman had responded to a non-violent domestic dispute between Mitchell and his ex-girlfriend, who had called the cops because Mitchell was not allowing her to enter his apartment to retrieve her clothes.
Sigman arrived and informed Mitchell that he must open the door to allow his ex-girlfriend to retrieve her clothes, but he was reluctant at first.
When Sigman then asked for his name, informing him that will probably be filing theft charges against him, Mitchell began walking away, towards his apartment, which was when he was tasered.
Mitchell later told him he was going to open the door as initially ordered to do so, but the cop was apparently unhappy because he did not verbally state he was going to open the door.
Mitchell was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice.
Those charges are still pending, but he has already filed a lawsuit against the Blytheville Police Department, according to Arkansas Online.
UPDATE: Mitchell received a $35,000 settlement earlier this month.
