Steve Watson
54-year-old grandmother tasered five times
Police in Baytown, Texas stormed a family home and broke out tasers and pepper spray after receiving a routine noise complaint.
The terrified family were having a birthday celebration with extended family and friends, when all hell broke loose. Instead of knocking on the front door, the cops are said to have raided the house via a back entrance.
Video captured by one of the partygoers on a cell phone shows officers kicking and punching the revelers, and deploying tasers.
The family told reporters with KPRC-TV, Local Two News that pepper spray was used around the ten young children who were in the house at the time, with some even getting it in their eyes.
By far the most shocking detail, however, was the claim that a 54-year-old grandmother in attendance was shot up to five times with a taser while seated in a chair and not resisting or doing anything to provoke the cops.
The family say that the woman, who is Mexican, does not speak English and did not understand the orders that the cops were yelling at her.
The attack appears to have been somewhat racially motivated, with party guests claiming that the police repeatedly directed racist insults at the family and guests, calling them “wetbacks,” among other terms.
The officers arrested seven people during the incident, on charges of “interfering with a public servant.”
The Baytown Police Department claims that the heavy handed tactics were necessary because the revelers refused to obey police demands, and one of them assaulted an officer.
Police claim that they were about to issue a noise citation to Jose Zepeda, 30, when members of his family surrounded them and told Zepeda to flee. The cops also claim that they were locked inside the house by members of the family.
They also deny using racial insults. “We slowed that video down and you could plainly hear the officers saying, ‘Get back, get back.’ There were no racial remarks made, most of the officers there were Hispanic,” Detective Edgar Elizondo said.
Local residents have marched on the police headquarters in protest, claiming that the department has a history of racially motivated violations of civil rights.
”What are the citizens to do when they are being beaten and pepper-sprayed and Tazered, and they have done nothing criminal at all.” one local activist said in comments to in local news wire Click2Houston.
Could it be determined whether or not they were illegals?
This is also what happens when you choose not learn the language of the country you choose to live in.