Indiana Traffic Stop Video Shows Cops Breaking Glass And Using A Taser, Lawsuit Claims Excessive Force



An Indiana traffic stop was caught on video and a lawsuit is claiming the police used excessive force because they broke the glass in a door window and used a taser during a simple traffic stop.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, another Indiana traffic stop took a strange twist when the state trooper asked, “Do you accept Jesus Christ?”

An Indiana family was driving to a hospital in Cook County, Illinois, to see a dying family member when they were pulled over at a traffic stop for not wearing a seat belt. But for Jamal Jones, his girlfriend Lisa Mahone, and Mahone’s two children, the simple traffic stop quickly escalated. They accuse the officers of excessive force, false arrest, and battery in a federal lawsuit, reports ABC 7 Eyewitness News.

When Mahone was pulled over in the Indiana traffic stop he did not dispute that she was not wearing a seat belt but she did request of the officer that the process be expedited.

“My first thing that I said to them, ‘My kid’s in the car. My momma’s passing. Can we please just make this as quick as possible. Here’s our information. Can we go to the hospital?’ He threw that out the window.”

Instead, Hammond officers demanded to see Jones’ identification. Jones told police he did not have his ID because he had recently been given a traffic ticket. When he reached into the back seat to get the ticket, the officers drew their guns and refused to take the ticket as a form of ID, according to WBNS10-TV.

“He was looking at me with his weapon drawn. Not once did he tell me to hold my hands up. He let me go in the bag, grab the ticket,” Jones said. Jones alleges the officer refused to take the ticket through the small opening in the window or through the sunroof.

“I was scared from the beginning. He asked me for my license and insurance. I gave it to him,” Mahone said. According to the lawsuit, they are reported as saying Jones did not oblige to exit because he feared for his safety due to “the officers’ aggressive demeanor.”

After Jones did not exit the vehicle, the Hammond police officers broke in his window and used a stun gun on Jones, dragging him out of the car in order to handcuff him.

The encounter was being recorded by the 14-year-old boy in the back seat on his cell phone. His 7-year-old sister is heard screaming next to him. The video segment released shows the exchange after they were pulled over and when their window was broken in, including when Jones is being tased.

According to Mahone and Jones’ lawyer, the children were injured by the broken glass. On the recording, Mahone is heard talking to a 911 operator, asking for a police supervisor to be sent to the scene.

Jones was arrested for resisting arrest. In response, the lawsuit alleges that “at no point during this entire encounter did Jamal physically resist the officers in any way.”

In a prepared statement, Hammond Police Lt. Richard Hoyda said, “In general, police officers who make legal traffic stops are allowed to ask passengers inside of a stopped vehicle for identification and to request that they exit a stopped vehicle for the officer’s safety without a requirement of reasonable suspicion.” The department insists they “were at all times acting in the interest of officer safety and in accordance with Indiana law.”

The Hammond officers also recorded the stop, police officials said. That video has not been released.

What do you think? Do you think that the officers were justified in their actions during the Indiana traffic stop?

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