This police bodycam footage shows American police officers shooting a large, unarmed, non-verbal, autistic black man at least six times with their tasers but he simply shrugs it off and keeps on walking.
Even when they manage to bring him down for a few seconds, he quickly gets back to his feet, moaning in apparent pain but otherwise, apparently unaffected.
But at one point an officer tackles him and wrestles the man, who at this point has at least six taser points embedded in his flesh, to the ground where he tries to put him in handcuffs, in the incident that took place near Stafford Avenue in the city of Brunswick, in the US state of Georgia.
This is when the man’s mother, who is reportedly from Brunswick, appears and repeatedly shouts at the officers that her 21-year-old son is a non-verbal autistic.
The police officers reply that they are aware and that they are trying to “help him”, all the while tasing the man, who has been named as Rajon Cherry by local media outlet First Coast News, in the incident that happened on 4th September.
The officers can be heard repeatedly telling Cherry that they are trying to help him and that he should roll over onto his stomach.
The Glynn County Police Department in the US state of Georgia released the bodycam footage on 7th September and the young man’s mother is demanding that the police officers change how they approach people with special needs.
Glynn County PD also issued a statement from Chief of Police Jacques S. Battiste, in which he said: “On September 4, 2021, at approximately 8:30 pm, officers of the Glynn County Police Department received a call from 911 communications stating that a black male that appeared to be carrying a weapon was walking in the area of the Dollar General and Stafford Avenue. The caller advised that the male was wearing no shirt, no shoes, appeared to be “flipping out”, and approaching vehicles. Dispatch further advised that the male was also screaming and hitting himself in the head.
“A Glynn County Police Officer made contact with the male. The officer started talking to the male and the individual kept advancing towards the officer with the weapon in hand.”
The “weapon” the statement is referring to was actually a cooking spoon.
The statement continues: “The officer gave loud verbal commands and then deployed his department issued Taser.
“Based on the officer’s training, he only used less lethal force to attempt to stop the individual from advancing. The Taser appeared to have no effect on the individual. The individual ran on foot towards Beverly Shores. The officers tried to give commands for the individual to get on the ground. The individual did not respond to the officer’s commands.
“A party that was on scene advised the officers that the individual had some mental disabilities. Neither of the officers had prior contact with this individual and were unaware of his disabilities.
“One of the responding officers subdued the individual by tackling the individual from the waist area. At this point the officer got behind the individual and performed a cross body lock (under the arm and over the chest). Officers then handcuffed the individual with the assistance of other officers. The officers used two pairs of handcuffs due to the individual having very broad shoulders.
“The individual was then placed in the rear seat of a patrol vehicle and treated by the Glynn County Fire Rescue and later transported to the South East Georgia Regional Medical Center for the Taser wounds as well an evaluation. Upon arrival at the hospital, officers released the individual from custody and attempted to seek help for him from medical staff.
“The individual’s guardian came to the hospital and advised that she was removing the individual from the hospital. The guardian left without the individual receiving treatment.
“The officers involved were treated for minor injury as a result of the altercation.”
Chief Battiste also said: “I commend the officers for using less lethal force and their ability to read the terrain as the event unfolded, preventing loss of life or serious injury to anyone involved”.
Chief Battiste added that preservation of life is the goal of every police encounter, saying: “This incident is currently under administrative review by the Glynn County Police Department.”
Cherry’s mum, named as Sherril Johnson, age unknown, in local reports, said: “Let’s look over the black and white fact. Let’s look over the special needs fact. You didn’t treat him as a human.”
She added: “Hire an educated person that’s trained to deal with people with special needs.”
The investigation is ongoing. No charges had been filed at the time of writing, either against Cherry or against the officers involved in the incident.
