Police officer uses stun gun on Black DoorDash driver at traffic stop
(The Hill) – A white police officer used a stun gun on a Black DoorDash driver at a traffic stop in Tennessee last month after the officer alleged that the driver was resisting.
Footage shared by the driver’s attorney, which is less than a minute long and was posted on Facebook on March 18, shows Delane Gordon, the driver, and the police officer, identified by the Associated Press as Collegedale police officer Evan Driskill.
In the video, which was recorded March 10 by Gordon, Driskill warns the driver that he will use his stun gun.
“He said he pulled me over for a traffic stop and … was going to tase me,” Gordon can be heard saying in the video before Driskill yells for him to get out of the car.
“You can’t do that, officer, because I called for your supervisor,” Gordon continues, and the officer repeats his order for the driver to get out of the car.
Asked what his reasoning is, Driskill tells the driver he had refused to give his information.
“I haven’t refused. I asked to speak to your supervisor,” Gordon replies at one point. “Sir, I feel uncomfortable. Please get your supervisor.”
“I don’t give a s— what you feel like. I said get out,” the officer orders as he physically grabs Gordon in an effort to remove him from the car.
Following a back-and-forth between the two, Driskill directs his stun gun toward the car and tases Gordon, who yells out that the incident is “not lawful.”
Gordon’s attorney, Ryan Wheeler, said in a statement following the release of the video that Gordon had been pulled over for speeding while he was 300 yards away from dropping off food to a customer. He said that Gordon did not believe he was speeding and “politely and repeatedly asked for a supervisor as he had been instructed to do whenever uncomfortable.”
“Mr. Gordon published this video as a way of opening a dialogue that would result in efforts to avoid this type of interaction from happening again. At no time was Mr. Gordon ever a threat, in words or actions, to this officer,” he added.
The Collegedale Police Department said several days before the release of the footage that it had launched its own review of the incident and would “release the results of that internal affairs investigation once it has been completed.”
It mentioned in its statement on Facebook that it would also be cooperating with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, which was also conducting a probe into the matter.
“We anticipate a release of the complete traffic stop video, in its entirety, and Internal Affairs report as soon as those investigations are closed,” the Collegedale Police Department said in a separate update on March 21.
The Hill has reached out to Collegedale police and Wheeler for comment.