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 ...
How does a deputy not know that shooting an electricity-emitting device near a gas pump might be dangerous?
The deputy who fired the taser is being charged with misdemeanor culpable negligence with injury that is punishable by a year in jail or on probation.
If the rider dies it will be upgraded to manslaughter.
I expect there will be a massive civil settlement.
Some of those guys are hired for who they know, not what they know.
If you were dispensing gas into a gas tank and you were hit with a taser, do you think you’ll let go of the gas nozzle as you drop to the ground, or do you think you’ll still be holding onto it with gas pouring out as you hit the ground?
And that’s why stupid, incompetent cops cost tax dollars.
Cop should be charged with attempted murder. The idiot shouldn’t be anywhere near a device of any kind.
Unfortunately surviving 3rd degree burns over more than 18% of a human body ( the rule of 9s) is a rare event. If he survives 3rd degree burns it will be an extremely rare event.
No, because that was only the 911 reports and the callers could have been mistaken or it could have been a different rider also with a blue bike.
Cops/helicopter video did not show any gun, nor was one found. The rider was followed solely on the basis of the color of his bike. They do have video of him breaking multiple traffic laws, including running at least one red light.
But none of that justifies the deploying of the taser in the presence of spilled gas which is against policy and training. It probably doesn’t justify the tackling from behind that resulted from the spilled gas.
This will be a very large settlement. There is no escaping that because of the policy violation and the officer is being charged with culpable negligence.
Say whatever you want...the Lord understands.😠
True. The officer may not get qualified immunity either if he is found guilty of the culpable negligence charge. His life will suck forever with a huge judgement against him.
Because there simply isn’t enough money in the universe to recompense the pain and suffering of the rider, IMO.
Who cares..
He was not threatening anyone when the cop literally came up blindside talked him, knocking him and the bike to the ground and then tazed him ignighting a fireball….
No way in hell this cop followed procedures… not a chance in hell.
Thanks for the head’s up.
I didn’t know that Baba Wawa owned gas stations!
Are you related to the cop? I only ask because your lame excuse for setting the young man on fire is as stupid as the cop who did it. Hence my belief the two of you are relatives.
If he fled cops before the incident THAT would be on video.
Alex Hammer lives in NYC.
There used to be just Sheriff’s deputies and not police, and more or all deputies in rural areas. The Sheriff is elected and these deputies are sometimes sort of political appointees, without the same training as police.
I would guess that FedEx, like many employers who need to hire low level workers these days, takes whomever they can get for the most part. I'm not saying he was a bad guy, only that the fact that he worked for FedEx doesn't really mean much. The gang signs and numerous body tats are probably a better indicator. That said, this shouldn't have happened.
“I still say there is a one a billion chance that the gas pump exploded.”
Fumes.
Tasers like many cell phones, 2-way radio and other emiiting or electonically active devices are NOT intrinsically safe.
ISA-RP12-6 defines intrinsically safe equipment as “equipment and wiring which is incapable of releasing sufficient electrical or thermal energy under normal or abnormal conditions to cause ignition of a specific hazardous atmospheric mixture in its most easily ignited concentration.”
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