Deputy hit Bradenton woman with Taser. Sheriff opens internal investigation
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has launched an internal affairs investigation to determine if a deputy followed department protocols and the law when they tased a 70-year-old Bradenton grandmother two times and dropped her to the ground before arresting after she tried to stop them from coming into her home.
Deputies had showed up at Barbara Pinkney’s home on Dec. 26, her 70th birthday, with an arrest warrant for her grandson, who was wanted on a charge of violating his probation. When Pinkney repeatedly refused to let them inside, deputy Jason Riley pushed his way in her home as she tried to shut the door on him, according to the probable cause affidavit he wrote.
According to Riley, he then grabbed Pinkney by the wrist with the intent to arrest her for obstruction, but she pulled away from him repeatedly before pushing him in the chest. That’s when Riley said he pulled out his taser and pulled the trigger.
The probe hit Pinkney in the arm but otherwise had no effect on her, according to Riley.
Riley said he then drive stunned Pinkney, holding the taser against her lower back, and knocked her down to the ground. The deputy claimed that she rolled onto her stomach, placing her hands under her stomach and resisting his attempts to handcuff her. He drive stunned her once more in the upper back, pinned her to the ground with his knee and waiting for another deputy help get her into handcuffs.
Pinkney was arrested and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and obstructing justice. She was released from jail the next day after posting $1,000 in bonds.
Original reports from the sheriff’s office indicated Pinkney had been tased three times but early Monday evening, Sheriff Rick Wells offered more details about what happened. He said the woman was tased only once.
“We know that the first shot when he tried to tase her did not take effect. One of the probes did not hit her,” Wells said in a statement released by the sheriff’s office. “When she went down, he tried to use the drive stun but the safety was engaged some time during the struggle. Then he was able to activate the taser and drive stun her.
“So she was tased really only twice, but only felt the effect during the last one, and that was when she put her hands behind her back,” Wells said.
Some of the incident, which has generated some national attention, was captured on cell-phone video and has many in the community outraged claiming deputies used excessive force.
The internal affairs investigation will examine if Riley followed the law and sheriff’s office procedures when he tased and arrested Pinkney.
An internal affairs investigation is not standard in all use of force incidents involving a Taser. Wells made the decision to launch the investigation, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren.
To show solidarity with the family and as part of an on-going effort to stand up against what they call racist police violence, Black Lives Matter Alliance Sarasota- Manatee Chapter and ANSWER Coalition Suncoast will host a rally at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday outside of Pinkney’s home, 1631 27th Ave Drive E., Bradenton, according to Bryan Ellis, coordinator of ANSWER Coalition Suncoast.
“There is no excuse at all for tasing a 70-year-old woman multiple times and throwing her to the ground,” Ellis said. “It is so clearly excessive force, regardless of what happened.”
In July 2008, Riley made a similar arrest of a 75-year-old Bradenton grandfather he said blocked a doorway and pushed Riley, who had gone to the man’s home into to search for his grandson, who had an outstanding arrest warrant.
That man, Benjamin Daker, was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence. A jury later found him not guilty.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 4:43 PM.
