Driver had taser pulled on him, after refusing to sign ticket

[link to www.wfaa.com]
(Video on website)

By CHRIS HAWES / WFAA-TV


FORT WORTH - A driver pulled over for speeding had a taser pulled on him, when the officer became impatient with the man's refusal to sign a ticket.

It's the latest in a series of Fort Worth taser incidents raising questions.

Ryan Majcher's a north Fort Worth Homer, and Citizens on Patrol volunteer.

A few months ago, instead of helping officers arrest criminals, he found himself under arrest.

It started when he was pulled over for speeding on the way to work.

An in-car camera shows what happened next, five minutes after the officer returned, with the ticket.

"I was getting out the car and next thing I know, I had what looked like a gun directly at my face," said Majcher.

It was not a gun but a taser.

Officer GP Jeandron told Majcher it was because he had refused to sign the speeding ticket, not signing can result in arrest.

"I handed it to you twice sir. You refused to sign it both times," said the officer.

"I was thinking, I…," said Majcher.

"I'm not going to stand out here in the rain all day while you try to decide what you're going to do or not going to do," the officer continued.

Ryan eventually launches into insults a police captain calls abusive.

Pete Schulte is a defense lawyer, and a former police officer. He has no involvement with this case, but agreed to review the video, along with Fort Worth's taser policy.

"It's very clear in the policy that if someone is showing passive noncompliance, they're not in a position to be tasered," he said.

After investigating, however, police supervisors determined Officer Jeandron did nothing wrong.

Fort Worth's written taser policy does not include rules on when officer can pull their taser on citizens, without firing.

By comparison, the area's largest department, Dallas, only allows officers to pull their tasers when faced with active aggression.