A Texas police officer is now under investigation after zapping a 76-year-old man twice with a Taser gun during a traffic stop.
The incident took place Thursday in Victoria, Texas, as Officer Nathanial Robinson, 23, pulled over local resident Pete Vasquez for an expired inspection sticker on the car Vasquez was driving back to Adam’s Auto Mart, where Vasquez helps with mechanical work.
A police dashboard camera shows that as Vasquez exited his vehicle, which is owned by the car lot, he explained to the officer his car had dealer tags, making it exempt from any inspection.
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The video depicts Robinson, who graduated from the police academy two years ago, trying to arrest Vasquez for the expired sticker, grabbing his arm, but the elderly man pulled it away.
The officer then pushed Vasquez onto the hood of the police car, before wrestling him down to the ground out of view of the camera.
According to the Victoria Advocate, police said the officer used the Taser on Vasquez twice while he was on the ground.
“He just acted like a pit bull, and that was it,” Vasquez, who suffered minor injuries, told the paper. “For a while, I thought he was going to pull his gun and shoot me.”
“I feel like my rights were violated,” he said. “The police department is supposed to train their police officers to be more conscientious and use common sense. I don’t think he had any.”
Larry Urich, a 62-year-old sales manager at the car lot, said it made him sick to watch the officer grappling with Vasquez, and he wants Robinson fired and prosecuted for excessive use of force and causing bodily harm to an elderly person.
“I told the officer, ‘What in the hell are you doing?’ This gentleman is 76 years old,” Urich said. “The cop told me to stand back, but I didn’t shut up. I told him he was a G——– Nazi Stormtrooper.”
The paper says Urich followed behind the police car that drove Vasquez to the hospital and waited until his friend was released.
“There should have been an ambulance called for this elderly gentleman,” Urich said. “He should not have been handcuffed to go to the emergency room when he had not done anything wrong.”
On Friday, Robinson was placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an internal probe regarding the use of force policy.
Police Chief J.J. Craig said the footage “raises some concerns,” and he has personally apologized to Vasquez, who was not cited for any wrongdoing.
He confirmed that since Vasquez was driving a car with dealer tags, the vehicle was exempt from having an inspection sticker.
“Public trust is extremely important to us,” Craig told the paper. “Sometimes that means you have to take a real hard look at some of the actions that occur within the department.”
District Attorney Stephen Tyler said authorities must determine whether criminal wrongdoing, moral wrongdoing or a policy violation occurred.
The officer could face charges including official oppression, injury to elderly, aggravated assault and assault.
Tyler told the Advocate the incident was bad timing in the wake of national news, but said Victoria isn’t Ferguson, Missouri, or New York City.
“You want to make sure you give the right kind of person a badge and a gun,” Tyler said.
