Charges dropped in Tallahassee Taser case

Video posted on YouTube shows Tallahassee officer using stun gun on woman.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A 61-year-old grandmother who was hit with a Taser in the back by a Tallahassee police officer has had charges of resisting arrest dropped. The state attorney said the whole incident was unnecessary.

But she's not the only one prosecutors have dropped charges against. Four others have had charges dropped against them as well.

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Viola Young, 61, is seen in a cellphone video slipping her hand away from Tallahassee police Officer Terry Mahan and turning away. She fell like a load of bricks after being hit by a Taser.

She and three others, including her daughter, were charged with resisting arrest. The state attorney has dropped the charges and said they should never have ever been filed.

"That whole event just did not need to take place," said Willie Meggs, state attorney of the 2nd Judicial Court. "It was just an unnecessary event."

No one answered at the woman's home Monday. However, through an email exchange with the grandmother's attorney, she declined to be interviewed.

Police reports say the incident started when group was walking in Dunn Street.

Within the last six months, there have been more than 200 reported crimes, all within a quarter mile of the address filed on the police report.

But crime-ridden or not, the state attorney said the initial premise of stopping the four was bogus.

"When the officer drove by the folks got out of the roadway," Meggs said. "After he passed by, they stepped back into the road.

Eight new police officers were sworn in Monday. In keynote remarks, Chief Michael DeLeo called for professionalism.

"Our values mandate that our decisions are based on what we should do, not what we can do," DeLeo said.

When asked if he had a reaction to the state attorney dropping the charges on the Dunn Street defendants, DeLeo said, "I can't make any comment on that case right now. It's an open internal investigation."

Officer Terry Mahan remains on administrative leave.