You are looking at the face of Jamal Jones.
He was tased in a routine traffic stop.
The moment captured on cellphone video is now at the center of a lawsuit against Hammond police.
“The whole situation was just crazy,” said Lisa Mahone.
Mahone, her boyfriend Jamal Jones, and Mahone’s two children – 14-year-old Joseph and 7-year-old Janiya — were driving in Hammond in late September. They were headed to Stroger Hospital in Chicago, where Mahone said doctors had called and said her mother was near death.
“I said ‘oh my God, he’s pulling me over like I robbed a bank,’” Mahone said.
And it was crazy.
And worse than that perhaps.
I cannot do the story justice.. the FOX reports sums it up perfectly..
MORE from that:With her son recording on his cellphone in the backseat, Mahone dialed 911.
“I gave him my license and insurance. I also let him know at the beginning to please hurry up because my mom is about to die,” Mahone told 911.
Jones said he didn’t have an ID to give to police because he recently got a ticket. When he reached into his book bag in the back seat to get the ticket, police drew their guns.
“I don’t know you and I don’t know what you’re going to do,” an officer told Jones. He responded, “That’s why I have my windows up. I’m not no harm to you right now. I got my kids in the car and you’re drawing your weapon.”
Jones told FOX 32 News, “So once the kids were scared, I wasn’t gonna get out of the car and leave my kids in the car. He was being so aggressive.”
Jones then tried to give the ticket with his ID to police, but they refused to take it. He then asked the officers if they have a supervisor on the scene.
“You all got a white shirt?” Jones said. The officer responded, “Look at my shoulder dumb***. I got bars.”
Police then continued to order Jones out of the car.
“You’re going to come out of the car one way or another. You want your kids to see you come out through the window?” the officer said.
Mahone then again called 911 for a supervisor to come to the scene.
“I am scared. And the man—pulled a gun out. A gun! Why do my kids have to see that,” Mahone told 911.
Three minutes after that call, police took action.
“Ma’am are you going to open the vehicle?” the officer said.
Mahone responded, “Why do you say somebody’s not gonna hurt you? People are getting shot by the police—”
Suddenly, police broke open the window and tased Jones. Mahone’s daughter began crying in the backseat after being sprayed with glass.
And the rest is history.
And now going viral on YouTube.
There will be some who defend the police actions. The Hammond police, for instance, are.. They said in a statement that the traffic stop was in accordance with law.. They also said that there was a safety issue for the officer.
Speaking of safety.. let’s not forget about children in the back seat of a car that police are smashing the windows of.. watching a man , who did nothing and did not have a probable cause of anything hanging over him, get tased and screaming in pain.
Ain’t that America.