A Black man was tased by deputies in Los Angeles County after witnesses say he flagged down a patrol car to try and assist someone who’d been in a car crash.
A Twitter user identified as a rapper named Slang with the handle @dopeslandjr_ posted a video on Dec. 1 which shows the encounter. Slang said he was the victim of the car crash.
“Got into a bad car accident today and this man in the video tried to flag the police down to help us instead they hopped out and tased bro no cap,” Slang wrote in the caption.
In the video four officers can be seen surrounding the man after he is tased and falls to the ground. Then another man, who officials said is one of the man’s relatives, runs out to try and assist the man.
“That’s why I tell you not to f—ing let him move,” the man yelled to someone in the house who replied, “I didn’t go nowhere!” before the man ran outside. “He’s not in his right mind! He’s not in his right f—ing mind,” the second man continued.
After the police officers tried to restrain the second man, he yelled at them, “Get away from me, don’t f—ing touch me!” before they tackled him to the ground.
There is a lot of screaming in the background by a woman who sounds distraught and witnesses can be heard giving their accounts of what happened.
“He stood in front of the police car because they didn’t want to stop for us having an accident,” one woman who is offscreen says in the video.
“Something is wrong with him mentally and I think his Daddy is trying to say, don’t hurt him because there’s something wrong with him,” another woman who is offscreen adds. “Even when he came over here for your accident, he was talking to me and I could tell that there was something wrong with him.”
The Twitter user who posted the video did not respond to Atlanta Black Star’s request for comment by the time of publication.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released a statement about the incident after Slang’s footage went viral.
“As deputies arrived, an individual ran onto the roadway, blocking the path of the deputies’ vehicle. Deputies exited their patrol vehicle and contacted the individual. Despite their de-escalation efforts the individual became hostile and a use of force occurred,” the statement said. “As the first incident was unfolding, a second individual approached deputies and ignored requests for him to back up. He struggled with the deputies and was taken into custody.”
According to Buzzfeed, both men were taken to a hospital for treatment, but the one who was tased was still under a physician’s care as of Tuesday afternoon.
The second man was released and has been charged with obstruction and battery on a peace officer.
The incident caused Twitter user @kristal100 to give Black and Brown people what she considers sage advice.
“If you are Black never, ever flag down the police. Call 911 if you have to but flag them down and you are more likely to be brutalized than helped, this has happened way too many times. Flagging down cops safety is a white privilege for Black/Brown people it’s unsafe,” @kristal100 wrote.
