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Florida Teen Tased By FHP Trooper, His Mother Thinks He Was Racially Profiled

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A Florida mother is demanding justice after a disturbing video showed a Florida Highway Patrol trooper using a Taser on her 16-year-old son.

Surveillance video captured the trooper tasing Jack Rodeman in his girlfriend's backyard last week. His mother said he had permission to be there. She believes her son, who is bi-racial, was racially profiled.

Home security footage shows 16-year-old standing on the back porch of his girlfriend's home last week when he came face to face with a state trooper pointing a taser at him.

"Put your hands behind your back," said the trooper.

"I didn't do nothing," replied the teen as he stared down at his phone while texting his girlfriend to come outside.

"I told you to do something," said the trooper.

Seconds later, the trooper fired the Taser and Rodeman slammed into the ground.

"His girlfriend's traumatized, her mom's traumatized, I'm traumatized," said Kristina Rodeman, Jack's mother.

She said her son didn't pose a threat and believes, instead, race played a role.

"I think he was totally profiled, that cop turned around and followed him back that direction," said Rodeman. "It's a black kid in black clothes."

When Rodeman's girlfriend came out of the house moments later, the trooper was already placing the teen in handcuffs.

According to the arrest report, the trooper said he followed Rodeman into the backyard because he looked "suspicious" and that when the teen saw the patrol car, he "darted" and hid in the bushes. He added that the boy's "behavior appeared to be a burglar".

The trooper said he was forced to tase Rodeman when he didn't follow commands to put his hands behind his back.

"He's a good kid but he's defiant with law enforcement a little bit," said Kristina Rodeman.

"You don't just take out a taser and shoot somebody when there's no active resistance," said former police officer Dave Thomas.

Thomas now trains other officers on the use of force and called the trooper's actions egregious.

"My question is what does a burglar look like? There's nothing that distinguishes that other than being a black kid in black clothing, that's it," he said.

Rodeman is being held at a juvenile detention center where he faces multiple charges, including resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. He was on probation for stealing a golf cart with a friend last year, according to his mother.

The Florida Highway Patrol says the incident involving the trooper, who was named Investigator of the Year last March, remains under review.

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