Posted on 05/19/2022 3:58:29 PM PDT by Morgana
Lawyers for a Fed-Ex worker who was badly burned in an explosion when a deputy tasered him while he was pumping gas say he is being 'vilified' by cops who suggested he was armed when the 26-year-old had 'never had a gun or brandished a gun.'
The Osceola County Sheriff's Office has yet to produce a charge against 26-year-old Jean Barreto, who was tackled from behind, allegedly without warning, during the botched arrest.
'I’ve never seen law enforcement behaving this way in Central Florida and doing these types of things for anything from no offense to misdemeanor offenses,' said Mark NeJame, who with Albert Yonfa represent Barreto and his family.
'Never had a gun that day. Never brandished a gun. But yet is being vilified while he’s laying pretty much skinless in a hospital bed fighting for his life,' NeJame told reporters during a Wednesday presser.
A photo shared by the attorneys with reporters shows Barreto's father praying at his son's bedside, which Yonfa said he does everyday.
Barreto, 26, who had been on his way home a peaceful motorbike memorial ride in Osceola County, suffered third-degree burns to more than 75% of his body as a result of the incident, which transpired at an Orange County Wawa on February 27.
He has been in an Orlando hospital ever since, where his lawyers say he has undergone dozens of surgeries as he barely clings life.
During the event, NeJame challenged the Osceola County Sheriff's Office to prove previous assertions that deputies had followed Barretto to the gas station after responding to a call about a group of bikers allegedly brandishing guns.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Don’t take the Lord’s Name in vain!
suffered third-degree burns to more than 75% of his body as a result of the incident...
—
Even if the poor guy survives, he’s never going to be the same.
The FedEx emphasis was distracting...
The true horror is that U.S. Citizens must seek overseas news outlets to know local news.
“The FedEx emphasis was distracting...”
Not to me it isn’t. If the guy is a FedEx employee then you get a general idea of who he is as a person. Punctual, hard working, polite, courteous, professional.
It immediately punches a hole in any attempt at character assassination that the OCSD tries to conduct to save their butts.
Local coverage https://www.wesh.com/article/osceola-wawa-arrest/40048474#
Jeez. How many bikers are there in Florida? Almost as many as California.
An APB says some bikers had guns so the cop just tackles the next biker he sees?
NeJame is an ambulance chaser.
The crackdown by the cops is probably because these bikers are a pita and riding where they are not supposed to. Not saying this guy deserved his wounds.
About 10 years ago I was driving north on I-4 not far from Orlando and these 4 crotch rockets pulled up next to me, popped wheelies while surrounding my car going about 90mph.
I was impressed but it was a very dangerous move.
Sheriff says he was tracked the entire time by helicopter and released the surveillance footage from the helicopter.
First time I saw the story was from the local news site.
It’s not taking the Lord’s name in vain to say, “God bless you.” Neither is beseeching God to damn evil.
According to the television report, by the local TV station, the victim was a part of a group of dirtbike riders that was weaving in and out of traffic, driving between cars, and going at extremely high rates of speed. The victim decided to run from the police, and was followed by a police helicopter overhead who never lost sight of him. He pulled into a gas station. At that point, the police converged on him. He then started resisting arrest. At that time a police officer deployed his taser, which burned the victim, but also burned the police officer to a small extent. Moral of the story, don’t run from the cops and don’t resist arrest and you won’t get burnt to a crisp.
“Most of hid body” = will probably not survive.
Isn’t there some sort of training that cops get which demonstrates the major problem with using a taser around flammable gases and liquids?
So the guy ran from the cops to a gas station where he started filling his gas tank up?
Is that what really happened?
Can they prove he brandished? That’s the underlying charge.
Bad incident, and the cop screwed up, IMO. Evidence (credible, that is) can change my mind.
Even if justified, the cop did a stupid thing with the taser discharge in that instance.
I’m guessing Barreto wasn’t in his FedEx garb pumping gas into his FedEx truck. Eventually, the excerpt/article indicates Barreto was heading home from a ‘peaceful’ motorbike ride.
Impressive he you surmised otherwise given the opening sentence(s)
I still say there is a one a billion chance that the gas pump exploded. Sadly today’s journalism does not care about accuracy. If the bike was tipped over with no gas cap installed then there was lots of gas that spilled out and could be ignited. Also the open gas tank on the bike probably exploded. The gas pump is a sealed unit. No air is present therefore it is not going to just explode. This is not Hollywood.
The cop that did this should be punished most severely.
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