Horrifying bodycam footage shows injured car crash passenger Jordan Rivero, 19, being repeatedly TASED by Florida cops – leaving him flatlining and fighting for life in a coma – after they find him sobbing next to wrecked truck
- Jordan Rivero, 19, was tased by police after he was in a car crash in the Florida Keys with three friends in July 2022
- Bodycam footage shows him bloodied and sobbing near the wrecked car before a cop fires a taser at the teen’s stomach and he falls to the pavement
- Rivero was in a coma after flatlining in an ambulance but has since been released and is now suing for damages of at least $75,000
This is the horrific moment an injured teenager is tased by a cop called to a car crash – leaving him flatlining in an ambulance and then fighting for life in a coma.
Jordan Rivero was already bloodied, dazed and confused after the accident on his way home from a fishing trip in the Florida Keys with three friends in July 2022.
Police bodycam footage obtained by DailyMail.com shows the 19-year-old passenger sobbing uncontrollably near the wrecked pick-up truck as he sits down on the orders of Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies.
Disoriented and not under suspicion of any crime, he stumbles upright complaining he can’t breathe through his broken nose.
But then deputies haul him down before another tussle in which he’s told ‘get on the f***ing ground’ – at which point deputy Dyllon Hansen fires his taser at the teenager’s stomach.
Rivero sobs as he’s blasted again, despite his pleas and appears to be felled like a tree on to the roadway of US1 in Tavernier, Florida.
Jordan Rivero, 19, was tased by police after being in a car crash in the Florida Keys with three friends in July 2022
Bodycam footage shows him sobbing near the wrecked car before cops fire a taser at the teen’s stomach
After the teen was tased, cops held him down and arrested him. ‘He had brain swelling and he suffered a traumatic brain injury,’ his attorney Dena Foman told DailyMail.com
Rivero was stretchered into an ambulance where he suffered a grand mal seizure, according to court documents in the case he has just brought against Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
Deputy Dyllon Hansen fired his taser at the teenager’s stomach
The panicking aspiring firefighter lets out a piercing scream as he clutches his chest. His head smashes on the hard surface, rebounds and smacks down again as his body thrashes from the voltage.
Officer Hansen’s bodycam footage shows the teenager continuing to be stunned with successive bursts of electricity as he howls in agony.
Instead of assessing the teenage crash victim’s medical condition, the footage reveals the cops pounce to hold him face down in a pool of his own blood, grab his arms behind him and cuff his hands and feet.
At one point he desperately forces out the words: ‘I’m sorry, sir. I’m sorry, sir. Please lord, please help me.’ He also begs friend and fellow crash victim John Tyler Sanders, who appears largely uninjured, for help.
Rivero was stretchered into an ambulance where he suffered a grand mal seizure, according to court documents in the case he has just brought against Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Rick Ramsay and three deputies including Hansen.
‘He had brain swelling and he suffered a traumatic brain injury,’ his attorney Dena Foman told DailyMail.com of the horror in July 2022. ‘He flatlined right after they got him in the ambulance at the scene.’
Rivero, now 20, was rushed to the Mariners Hospital in Tavernier. ‘But he needed an emergency tracheotomy as he got there and they had to slice his throat open in the parking lot,’ added the attorney.
‘He had to be resuscitated two or three times and he ended up in a coma. He is very lucky to be alive.’
Staff at the Mariners deemed Rivero’s injuries too severe for treatment there and he was airlifted to Kendall Hospital near Miami where he was put on a mechanical ventilator.
He was released five days later with debilitating injuries that have ruined his chances of following in the footsteps of his veteran firefighter father, says the legal paperwork filed in the US District Court Southern District of Florida.
Rivero, now 20, is suing Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Rick Ramsay and three deputies including Hansen
In Hansen’s report, obtained by DailyMail.com, the officer says Rivero was ‘combative’ after leaving the crashed vehicle and was told several times to sit down but refused
The crash victim from Lantana, in Palm Beach County, was with friends Daniel Klein, Jerome Harman and John Sanders when the Toyota Tacoma smashed into a concrete pole on US1 around 5.55am on July 3, 2022.
They were taking turns driving and Rivero was asleep in the back seat when the vehicle crossed from the northbound to southbound lane.
Cops arrived within minutes and ‘petrified, injured and disoriented’ Rivero got out of the wreckage. Deputies Hansen, Anna Coello and Sergeant Vaughan O’Keefe were among the law enforcement first responders.
‘As Mr Rivero began to wander, Officers Hansen, Coello, and O’Keefe grabbed his arms and repeatedly told him to ‘stop’ and ‘just relax, bro’ before pulling him down to the ground and instructing him to ‘stay seated’,’ says the legal complaint.
‘While trying to make sense of the horrific scene, and struggling to breathe through his broken nose, which was covered in blood, Mr Rivero continued to cry out for help.
‘Apparently when Mr Rivero did not adhere to the commands and aggressive handling of his person by Officer Hansen, Officer Coello, and Officer O’Keefe to sit on the ground, Officer Hansen proceeding to tase him for four cycles in the span of a minute after directing Mr. Rivero to ‘get on the f***ing ground’.
‘As a result, Mr. Rivero’s head crashed into the pavement as he fell causing a traumatic head injury to an already fragile victim.’
Attorney Foman told DailyMail.com: ‘Jordan woke up and he had blood all over his face, he was dazed and confused, he was crying. He didn’t know where he was, he was scared.
‘Not knowing where he was, he was wandering around the scene and when he wouldn’t sit down they tased him, multiple times.
‘It was tragic. There was no crime, no suspicion of a crime. It was just a really bad car accident. I don’t understand why you would tase somebody who was clearly already injured.’
One of Rivero’s friends who was involved in the crash is seen outside of the mangle vehicle. He appears to have sustained little injury
‘I don’t understand why you would tase somebody who was clearly already injured,’ Rivero’s lawyer said. Cops are seen restraining Rivero
The white pick-up truck the teens were driving in is seen mangled after the crash. Their Toyota Tacoma smashed into a concrete pole on US1 around 5.55am on July 3, 2022
She added: ‘The purpose of a Taser is to apprehend dangerous individuals and dangerous individuals that are attempting to flee the arrest. Jordan didn’t fit any of that description.
‘We all hope if we or our loved ones are in an accident that the first responders will make sure we get medical care, that’s their job, that’s what we expect.
‘And in this situation not only did he not get medical care they harmed him in a great way. They changed this kid’s life.’
Foman disputes a sheriff’s office report that Rivero punched O’Keefe before being tased, by saying: ‘On the bodycam footage there is nothing there’.
In Hansen’s report, obtained by DailyMail.com, the officer says Rivero was ‘combative’ after leaving the crashed vehicle and was told several times to sit down but refused.
The teenager was ‘assisted to the ground with only the force necessary’ but ‘returned to his feet and began actively pushing and pulling away from deputies.
‘Jordan pulled away from Sgt V. O’Keefe’s control and proceeded to strike him in the face with a closed fist,’ said his report.
‘This officer (Hansen) deployed a Taser, the initial discharge did not work. I reloaded the Taser and deployed a secondary time which successfully made his muscles contract throughout his body and caused him to drop to the ground.
‘Jordan continued to actively resist, and required several more Taser cycles to gain compliance and control. He was placed in handcuffs, to which he continued to actively resist, and fight deputies on scene.’
The lawsuit is demanding a jury trial and damages of at least $75,000, the standard ‘jurisdictional amount’ in federal court. Rivero’s s side is hoping the jury will award a considerably higher figure if he wins his case.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office told DailyMail.com: ‘Given this is a pending legal matter, we have no comment at this time.’
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