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No assault on officer charge against man tased for allegedly pushing West Palm Beach officer

Posted at 6:54 PM, Mar 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-28 04:05:27-04

In the seconds after a man seen on police body camera video was tased in the abdomen after a Sunday brawl at a downtown West Palm Beach restaurant, he stands still, crosses his arms and appears to be unaffected by the shock.

Moments before that, body camera video shows him being held back by others; police say he pushed an officer, yet he will not face an battery charge. 

"At that point, the officer that was the victim in the case chose at his discretion to not charge him with a felony battery on a police officer and chose to charge him with obstruction," said Sgt. David Lefont, West Palm Beach Police Department's Public Information Officer. 

A fellow officer thought what happened required the use of a taser. The question now, did the officer with the taser follow procedure? 

"That's why we review the incident and that's why it will be investigated," said Lefont.

Two other officers seen on video, in what some call aggressive arrests, are pressing charges against two women. Shannon Chatman is seen pushing an officer's head on a video recorded on a cell phone. The officer is then seen dropped her to the ground by her hair and pulling her out of the restaurant.

Police say another woman, Amandi Fountain, punched an officer and then he punched her back. The body camera video shows he struggled to arrest her. 

The women arrested do not want to comment. Police say they released the body camera video for transparency. 

"We can always be better and that's part of the review so we have to review these incidents from a transparency standpoint so that everyone knows what happened that day," added Lefont. 

The officers involved are still on duty.