Redacted body cam shows teen being shot with a taser after a little league brawl
By: A Worcester police officer shot a Black 17-year-old with a Taser less than a minute after the teen arrived in the chaotic aftermath of a June fight involving two little league teams at Kendrick Field in the Greendale neighborhood, newly released body camera footage shows.
The bodycam videos offer new views of an incident that had been detailed in a June Worcester police news release as an officer using a Taser to stop a 17-year-old with clenched fists from committing an "impending assault."
Worcester police last week released two bodycam videos of the June 12 incident under a public records request. The videos show police interviewed two men associated with the Kendrick Field-based Schwartz little league team who describe tackling someone. Both were allowed to leave the field after the incident. The 17-year-old, who is the brother of a player on the Vernon Hill Park-based Lou Gehrig team, was handcuffed and later charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and assault after the officer shot him with the Taser.
Worcester Patch reached out to both little league teams for comment about the altercation. We will update this story if either team responds.
The heavily redacted videos show the 30 minutes surrounding the Taser deployment. Police arrived at Kendrick Field along Brooks Street after fighting between the two teams had ceased. The videos show the incident from the perspectives of two officers, including the one who fired the Taser.
One video begins with an officer interviewing two men, who are both white. One of the men describes being approached by the Lou Gehrig team's coach, who they say pointed his finger and then raised his fist at them. One man says he decided to tackle the coach when he saw him raise his fist.
"That's when I tackled him. I just tackled him, I didn't hit him," the man says as the officer points out that tackling is hitting.
A man identified as the Lou Gehrig coach is shown in the video receiving medical attention from an ambulance. Another member of the Lou Gehrig team — the 15-year-old brother of the teen who would end up being shot with the Taser — also appears in the video, and says he was hit by someone associated with the Schwartz team. The teen tells police the adult who hit him may have changed his clothes and left the field.
About 14 minutes into the videos, the parents of the 15-year-old arrive at the field and begin demanding to know where the person who hit their son is. From between the parents, the 17-year-old brother emerges and runs a short distance across a parking lot onto the baseball field where a few people associated with the Schwartz team were standing. The teen runs in a circle around the field as police chase him. An officer can be seen attempting to grab the 17-year-old from behind.
A moment later, the 17-year-old gets trapped between three officers. The officer who attempted to grab the teen then pulls out his Taser and fires the weapon.
"Back up. You're going to get Tased," the officer says at almost the same time he fires the weapon.
About 30 second pass from when the teen sprinted out of the parking lot to him getting stunned.
The videos show the teen crumpling to the ground as his parents rush onto the field and begin shouting at police. The teen's entire body is blurred in the video, making it unclear what he was doing before the officer fired the Taser.
"He reacts to his brother being punched and he gets tased?" the father says in the video after running toward his son.
A woman in the video who says she's the 17-year-old's mother asks police if they used the Taser because the teen is Black.
"This is how you guys kill people!" she yells at the officers, adding her son has mental health problems.
After getting shot with the Taser, the 17-year-old apologizes several times to the officer who shot him, saying he "blacked out" because he was upset someone hit his brother. from an ambulance. Another member of the Lou Gehrig team — the 15-year-old brother of the teen who would end up being shot with the Taser — also appears in the video, and says he was hit by someone associated with the Schwartz team. The teen tells police the adult who hit him may have changed his clothes and left the field.
About 14 minutes into the videos, the parents of the 15-year-old arrive at the field and begin demanding to know where the person who hit their son is. From between the parents, the 17-year-old brother emerges and runs a short distance across a parking lot onto the baseball field where a few people associated with the Schwartz team were standing. The teen runs in a circle around the field as police chase him. An officer can be seen attempting to grab the 17-year-old from behind.
A moment later, the 17-year-old gets trapped between three officers. The officer who attempted to grab the teen then pulls out his Taser and fires the weapon.
"Back up. You're going to get Tased," the officer says at almost the same time he fires the weapon.
About 30 second pass from when the teen sprinted out of the parking lot to him getting stunned.
The videos show the teen crumpling to the ground as his parents rush onto the field and begin shouting at police. The teen's entire body is blurred in the video, making it unclear what he was doing before the officer fired the Taser.
"He reacts to his brother being punched and he gets tased?" the father says in the video after running toward his son.
A woman in the video who says she's the 17-year-old's asks police if they used the Taser because the teen is .
"This is how you guys kill people!" she yells at the officers, adding her son has mental health problems.
After getting shot with the Taser, the 17-year-old apologizes several times to the officer who shot him, saying he "ed out" because he was upset someone hit his brother.