Police used a taser to electric shock a disabled man because he was standing on a bus, as he always does. The man prefers standing because of his spinal injuries, which make it uncomfortable for him to sit.
Brad Hulett says he did not want to lose the price of his bus fair, but he also couldn’t comply with the request to sit. He says that standing is common on the buses and happens every day. He does it every day. However this day he believes he was singled out because of the way he looks. Hulett suffers extensive disabilities stemming from injuries caused by being struck by a train years ago. He also had open heart surgery recently and feared that police tasers would harm his heart. He is suing because of excessive use of force.
In the video, an officer appears to lift up Hulett’s shirt and then fires the taser. Hulett can be heard apparently howling in pain in the video.
Now, Hulett and his lawyer, Rick Guy, will sue the city of Syracuse, Onondaga County, and Centro. Guy says the case is based on excessive and unnecessary force. Hulett says he was discriminated against in not being allowed to stand. He also says other passengers that day were not forced to sit and he stood on a different bus earlier in the day. In addition to the incident on the bus, Hulett plans to sue the county for the aftermath in jail. He claims he was forced to stand up in his wheelchair with a broken hip and a nurse at the jail declined to give him proper care.
Following the first taser shot, Hulett can be seen being picked up and dragged outside and onto the sidewalk, where he was tased again. He was then dragged away and arrested. Hulett was taken to the hospital upon his release from jail several hours later and we taken immediately into surgery for a broken hip and still walks with a cane.
According to Hulett’s attorney, Rick Guy, the security videotapes show that Hulett’s arresting officers filed false reports after the incident.
“This begs for close scrutiny, as to what happened that day. The police reported there was no injury after the arrest, which was patently false. The reports, when looked at with the video, indicate someone wasn’t telling the truth.” SOURCE
Below is security video of Hulett’s booking.
After being tasered and dragged from a Centro bus by Syracuse police May 3, 2013, Brad Hulett spent the night in the Onondaga County Justice Center jail with what he later learned was a broken hip. In a video taken at the jail that day, a deputy asks Hulett if he can stand up from a wheelchair. Hulett says he needs to be careful to put all his weight on his right leg, because the left is injured. The deputy tries to help him up, but Hulett collapses back into the wheelchair. About four minutes later, two deputies hold Hulett under the armpits as he stands and another deputy frisks him.
In the following video Hulett speaks out about his ordeal:
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