Florida State Trooper shown on surveillance video using a taser on a boy at the home of a friend on June 16, 2021. (Source: Ben Crump/Twitter)
A 16-year-old’s mother says that the boy’s race is the reason why her son was tasered multiple times by a state trooper as he waited for his girlfriend outside her home in Fort Myers, Florida last week.
The police encounter occurred June 16 and was caught on surveillance video and shared with Fort Myers NBC News affiliate WBBH. The video shows the officer confronting the boy, with a taser aimed at his back, before firing the weapon. The teen collapses to the ground, hitting his head and back against a stone fire pit on the way down.
“He was profiled because he is Black in black clothes,” Kristina Rodeman, the boy’s mother, told NBC News Wednesday. “There is no doubt in my mind. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He literally was just walking down the street going to his girlfriend’s.”VICE News is withholding the name of the alleged victim, who is a minor.
“I saw the defendant (a suspicious person) dressed in black pants, black sweater/hoodie, and black tennis shoes,” the report reads according to NBC News. “His behavior, demeanor and body language appeared to be a burglar. It looked to me like he had just committed a crime or was about to commit a crime.”When he confronted the teen, the trooper alleges that he failed to comply with the officer’s orders to approach him, and instead chose to walk away from him towards a nearby backyard. The officer then allegedly drew his taser and asked the teen to put his hands up, which the boy again ignored.
“The red dots were placed on his back and I deployed the Taser. The probes struck his upper, right shoulder and upper, right buttock,” the trooper’s report reads. “The defendant fell to the ground. I told him to place his hands behind his back. He failed to comply so I activated the Taser again.”
The report also alleges that the teenager stole a bottle of his mother’s prescription marijuana.
The elder Rodeman did not immediately respond to VICE News’ request for comment.A spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol told VICE News that an administrative review of the incident began shortly after the arrest and remains ongoing.
The teen is currently spending 21 days in jail for violating probation related to a prior minor juvenile offense according to Derek Tyler, a criminal litigator representing the Rodeman family. He did not specify the specifics of Rodeman’s prior offense. The teen also faces charges of failing to obey a lawful order, loitering, prowling, resisting without violence and possession of fewer than 20 grams of marijuana, according to WBBH.
“I am vigorously defending all of these charges against Jack,” Tyler told VICE News. “Our position is that he was racially profiled and then what happened to him subsequently was brutal, unjustified and it was torture. Especially if you got a chance to look at the video, what you’re seeing there is torture of a child.”
The police encounter occurred June 16 and was caught on surveillance video and shared with Fort Myers NBC News affiliate WBBH. The video shows the officer confronting the boy, with a taser aimed at his back, before firing the weapon. The teen collapses to the ground, hitting his head and back against a stone fire pit on the way down.
“He was profiled because he is Black in black clothes,” Kristina Rodeman, the boy’s mother, told NBC News Wednesday. “There is no doubt in my mind. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He literally was just walking down the street going to his girlfriend’s.”
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But the Florida Highway Patrol says that the officer, identified as George Smyrnios, only followed the teen because he darted away and hid behind some nearby shrubs at the sight of his patrol car.
“I saw the defendant (a suspicious person) dressed in black pants, black sweater/hoodie, and black tennis shoes,” the report reads according to NBC News. “His behavior, demeanor and body language appeared to be a burglar. It looked to me like he had just committed a crime or was about to commit a crime.”When he confronted the teen, the trooper alleges that he failed to comply with the officer’s orders to approach him, and instead chose to walk away from him towards a nearby backyard. The officer then allegedly drew his taser and asked the teen to put his hands up, which the boy again ignored.
“The red dots were placed on his back and I deployed the Taser. The probes struck his upper, right shoulder and upper, right buttock,” the trooper’s report reads. “The defendant fell to the ground. I told him to place his hands behind his back. He failed to comply so I activated the Taser again.”
The report also alleges that the teenager stole a bottle of his mother’s prescription marijuana.
The elder Rodeman did not immediately respond to VICE News’ request for comment.A spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol told VICE News that an administrative review of the incident began shortly after the arrest and remains ongoing.
The teen is currently spending 21 days in jail for violating probation related to a prior minor juvenile offense according to Derek Tyler, a criminal litigator representing the Rodeman family. He did not specify the specifics of Rodeman’s prior offense. The teen also faces charges of failing to obey a lawful order, loitering, prowling, resisting without violence and possession of fewer than 20 grams of marijuana, according to WBBH.
“I am vigorously defending all of these charges against Jack,” Tyler told VICE News. “Our position is that he was racially profiled and then what happened to him subsequently was brutal, unjustified and it was torture. Especially if you got a chance to look at the video, what you’re seeing there is torture of a child.”