“It’s beyond comprehension why would you tase someone who had just been involved in such a tragic accident,” Jordan Rivero’s lawyer tells Inside Edition.
A 20-year-old survived a terrible car crash. The young man says the injuries he suffered in the accident were made even worse when, while bloodied and disoriented, he was tased by police.
“When they tased me, I smashed my head on the concrete very, very, very hard,” Jordan Rivero tells Inside Edition. He says he was on a fishing trip in the Florida Keys with his friends when the car crash happened.
Rivero says he was asleep in the back seat.
Newly released police bodycam footage of the July 2022 incident shows Rivero climbing out of the wrecked vehicle.
First responders attempted to reassure him. “You’re good, buddy. Relax. I need you to stay right there, all right,” they said.
But Rivero says he was so dazed and disoriented from the crash that he got up two times and found himself restrained by officers. Rivero got up a third time, leading to another tussle from police and the 20-year-old getting tased.
“It’s beyond comprehension why would you tase someone who had just been involved in such a tragic accident,” Rivero’s lawyer tells Inside Edition.
A police report says Rivero “struck a sergeant in the face with a closed fist,” and was “a threat to himself, deputies [and] paramedics.”
Inside Edition spoke to Rivero’s girlfriend, Emma Dipauli, and his father, Jessie, a firefighter.
“I don’t understand how the situation got blown out of proportion that far. I don’t understand why a taser was involved,” Dipauli says.
“Not in my worst nightmare would I imagine tasing an accident victim,” Jessie says.
Rivero is suing the sheriff's office. They tell Inside Edition they can not comment on pending litigation.
