The Florida Highway Patrol have cleared 267-pound Trooper Daniel Cole of wrongdoing and have released a disturbing dash cam video that captured him tasing a 100 pound, 20 year old handcuffed girl in the back as she fled.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined Trooper Daniel Cole’s “use of force” was justified when he tased the woman last September at the FHP Pinellas Park Substation and cleared him of wrongdoing.
The fleeing woman, Danielle Maudsley, 20, suffered severe brain damage after hitting her head on the concrete and has been in a persistent vegetative state ever since.
The video shows Maudsley fleeing a back door of the substation with Cole following closely behind.
Maudsley was arrested for her alleged involvement in two hit-and-run crashes and driving without a license.
Cole brought Maudsley to the substation to complete his paperwork before taking her to the Pinellas County Jail, according to FHP reports.
As she enters the parking lot, Cole deploys his taser and Maudsley hits the ground hard, with her head slamming into the asphalt.
“What were you thinking? What are you, stupid?,” Cole can be heard asking Maudsley on the video.
“I can’t get up,” said Maudsley.
“I don’t want you to get up,” said Cole.
“I can’t get up,” Maudsley said again. The last words Maudsley has spoken since being tasered.
On the video, Maudsley loses consciousness about two minutes after hitting her head.
Maudsley’s mother said the trooper should have used other means to stop her daughter from fleeing.
“He was right behind her. He could’ve reached out,” Maudsley said. “It was unnecessary.”
The mother hired defense attorney Kevin Haylsett, who put FHP on notice for a lawsuit.
Hayslett said Cole violated FHP’s taser policy which states:
“Fleeing cannot be the sole reason for the deployment.”
“When you shoot someone in the back, and they’re running away, all that force — as you saw when Danielle’s head hit the concrete — that’s why they don’t allow you to do that, because you can have horrible tragedies like this,” Hayslett said.
With any rule, there is an exception.
An Office of Inspector General Investigation Unit report states: “Although the FHP policy on Electronic Control Devices states that a member should not use the device on a handcuffed prisoner, it also provides that there may be situations that conflict with this policy.”
The report goes on to state: “In this situation, Maudsley … removed one of her handcuffs while in the back of Cole’s patrol car, and moved her handcuffs from behind her back, to in front of her body, as she attempted to flee the FHP Station. In addition, Maudsley was running towards US Highway 19 which is a high volume road.”
According to the report, Maudsley had oxycodone and cocaine in her system at the time.
“The Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted an independent review of the incident,” FHP spokesperson Sgt. Steve Gaskins said. “Their investigation found that the trooper’s actions were legal and within the scope of his duties.”
“He would’ve been better off to use his nightstick on her than he would a taser,” Hayslett said.
The attorney also pointed out that Maudsley only weighs about 100 pounds.
In the report, Cole said he chose to use the taser because he “felt she was more susceptible to being injured if he attempted to tackle her.” Cole weighs approximately 267 pounds.
Hayslett called the dash cam video disturbing. “It’s one of those videos — when you see it and you watch her head hit the pavement — that it’s hard to get those images out of your head,” he said.
Maudsley’s mom said her daughter’s prognosis is not good. She is likely to remain in a vegetative state.
Maudsley is now in a Ft. Lauderdale rehab center that specializes in severe brain injuries.
4 Responses to Trooper tasers handcuffed girl, puts her in vegetative state with severe brain damage
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This is crazy another form of excessive force if you ask me the patrol officer will of course be cleared just for that reason alone he’s an officer and here lately try have been getting away with all these acts … I would most definitely pursue a law suit even if she had ran away this could have been avoided souks she pay her life for some traffic offenses of course not what a dumb choice to make shame on him I hope they take his ass to court !!
I saw the video on the news this morning and ran straight for my computer. I am outraged that this so called officer of peace chose this method while he was clearly only a few steps behind Maudsley—the video shows that the officer actually slowed down his unlabored running pace to tase this poor 100lb girl. Had Officer Cole simply chose to step-up his pace and give chase; he could have easily grabbed the handcuffed Maudsley. Not even tackling would have become necessary. It is also clear that Officer Cole would have recaptured Maudsley way before she reached the high-traffic area had he chosen to simply run after her. What’s more, Officer Cole’s life was never in danger nor was Maudsley a threat to him or the general public. It is stated above that such devices should not be used on a handcuffed prisoner, but there may be situations that conflict with this policy—this special condition more than likely pertains to someone in handcuffs who has the potential to be life-threatening to an officer or others—not a young 100lb girl who is running away in handcuffs. It also bothers me that the Florida Highway Patrol cleared Officer Cole of any wrong doing simply to cover their a**. I would have had more respect for the FHP if they would have suspended Cole immediately pending a full investigation. Now Maudsley is in the hospital in a vegetated state due to her hitting her head on the pavement. Shame on Officer Cole. My prayers go out to Maudsley and her family.
Look everyone, and I DO MEAN EVERYONE! Stop running to the Internet to comment some stupid remark about situations you have no clue on how to handle. While you sit behind a keyboard picking everything you can apart how about you don that uniform and do his job? The crazy part about this entire situation is the girl ran WHILE handcuffed! Are you KIDDING ME and so that is all of a sudden forgiven? OK so when she runs her self into an oncoming car face first and crashed through a window killing the driver and herself then what? Its the officers fault right for handcuffing her right? WRONG! Its her own fault for whatever offense she did in the first place and then SHE RAN WHILE HANDCUFFED FROM AN OFFICER!!! When did running from cops become acceptable? That man did his job when he put those cuffs on her, he also did his job keeping her from causing more issues with another pedestrian. She was the one that was arrested, then SHE got her hands from back to front (Mistake #1 resisting) then she made a conscious effort to get up and leave from there (Mistake #2 fleeing) at the same time she ignored the cops commands to stop(Mistake #3 resisting). As tragic as this occasion ended it could have ended even worse with the safety of the officer and public at stake. In that same note ti could have ended better with her just going to jail and getting a lawyer and resisting the charge What if it was your child that gets ran over or injured while this person chose to run to avoid what punishment she deserved for whatever offense she clearly did? GET REAL AMERICA AND WAKE UP! IF YOU RUN FROM A COP BAD THINGS WILL VERY MUCH HAPPEN AND ITS YOUR OWN FAULT! Bare the responsibility!
Great. We have your perspective from the officer’s side (is that you!?). Now, what if this were your daughter and she was left with permanent brain damage because a lazy trooper didn’t feel like chasing her. He was RIGHT BEHIND HER. All he had to do was pursue her for about 5 more feet and he would have caught her, without LEAVING HER WITH PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE.
I know it’s easy for you to feel jaded towards the “civies”, but this guy fucked up… hard. Hopefully this doesn’t happen to anyone in your family, or will you just say “well, what if blah blah”? Highly doubtful.