TOLEDO, Ohio — The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement on Saturday about a video from April 2020 that’s been making the rounds online, showing a use of force/taser incident by a Lucas County Sheriff's Deputy.
In the video, a taxi driver is approached by an officer in a Walmart parking lot. After being asked for a driver’s license the taxi driver asked for the reason the officer needed to see a license. Several times the taxi driver asked for the reason he was being approached before the officer said it was because they were parked in a no-parking zone.
As seen in the video, the incident quickly escalated when the driver continued to ask for a reason he was approached while not producing a driver's license.
Eventually, the officer opened the driver's door and told him to get out of the car. The driver continued to ask what he had done wrong when the officer appeared to pull out his taser.
After the officer called for assistance and the driver exited the car, the officer used the taser to subdue the driver. Throughout the incident the man asked the officer what he had done wrong.
The taxi driver was then seen being arrested and put into a police vehicle.
After the arrest, the officer searched the taxi and says he found 2 Michigan driver's.
By this time other officers had arrived on the scene.
On Saturday, the Sylvania Township Police Department released a statement on the incident on their social media pages. It reads:
“We have become aware of a video circulating on the internet involving a use of force/tasing incident that occurred in April 2020. Our Police Department was requested to respond as backup to assist another agency, but our officers were NOT involved in this use of force incident or the subsequent arrest of the subject. We arrived on scene after the subject had been tased and handcuffed. A Lucas County Sheriff’s Deputy was the arresting officer. The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office is aware of this use of force incident and conducted an investigation. The Deputy was disciplined.”
The Lucas County Sheriff's Office released a statement on their Facebook page on Saturday in which Sheriff Mike Navarre said, “the incident was fully investigated and the deputy involved was disciplined.”
The identities of the driver and officer remain unknown at this time, as well as the extent of disciplinary actions taken against the officer.