Cell Phone Video Captures Police Smashing Window, Using Stun Gun During Traffic Stop

By Joseph Erbentraut, Huffington Post

A northwest Indiana police department is facing a federal lawsuit after a family claimed an officer used excessive force on them during a dramatic traffic stop captured via cell phone video.

Lisa Mahone was driving, along with her boyfriend Jamal Jones and two children, to visit Mahone’s ill mother at Stroger Hospital on Sept. 24 when they were pulled over by Hammond, Indiana, officers for a seat belt violation, the Post-Tribune reports.

According to the lawsuit, officers pulled them over in a “highly aggressive” manner, placing spike strips in front of the car and asking for both Mahone’s driver’s license, as well as Jones’ identification.

Jones told the police he did not have a driver’s license because he had recently been ticketed for not paying his insurance, per Mahone’s complaint, and when he went into his bag to show them the ticket, officers reportedly refused to look at the ticket, ordered Jones out of the vehicle and pulled out their guns. Jones refused to exit the vehicle “because he feared that the officers would harm him.”

Around this time, Mahone’s 14-year-old son began recording the exchange, using the camera on his cell phone. His footage, uploaded to YouTube on Oct. 5, captures Mahone talking to police on her phone in an attempt to explain the situation, as well as the ongoing exchange between Jones and the officers.

The video shows the officers breaking the car’s passenger window, spraying glass into the vehicle, and pulling Jones out of the car to arrest him. Officers also appear to use a stun gun on Jones while he is in view of the car. Mahone’s 7-year-old daughter can be heard crying in the background.

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