A dramatic takedown between a robbery suspect and as many as five Lakeland Police officers is raising questions about the use of excessive force after the man stopped breathing.
Tuesday night, police said Shavenski Green was caught stealing money out of a cash drawer of a Save-a-Lot in Lakeland.
He then is accused of showing other bizarre behavior at another nearby business.
Linda Henry, his mother, said Green is a paranoid psychitzophrenic, and most officers know it.
“I think they went too far with him being sick. They went too far,” she said.
Lakeland Police Sgt. Gary Gross tells ABC Action News that Green violently fought back, kicking and wrestling with officers.
“He’s not listening to them, he’s not responding, he’s just irrational,” said Gross.
At one point in the dash cam video, you can see an officer tase Green while he’s down and then again a second time.
“What I see on the video is my child hog-tied, not up, but down and he gets tased two times!” Green said.
Moments later, officers notice Green slumped over, and not breathing. The video shows them starting CPR.
While all of that commotion was going on, other people nearby were filming it on their cell phone, adding another perspective and spreading rumors on social media.
Aaron Flame Williams had a Facebook Live going on at the time and provided shocking commentary of what he thought was going on.
“You killed him,” he’s heard saying. “I watched you guys kill that man.”
Immediately, people began speculating about the use of excessive force, but investigators believe the cell phone angle does not show the crucial, violent moments that led up to the scuffle.
“It’s a perfect example, this day and time, that misinformation can be spread on social media,” Gross said.
According to LPD, Green survived but is currently in “guarded condition.”
His mother has not been allowed to see him, and is still fuming about what she feels is mistreatment of a known psychitzophrenic.
“Everybody knew his condition,” she said.
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