A Florida sheriff’s deputy who used a taser on a motorcyclist at a gas station, resulting in both of them catching fire, has been acquitted of charges.
The controversial incident, which took place in February 2022, has sparked public interest, especially as it involved a dramatic sequence of events that left the motorcyclist severely burned.
The Incident
Deputy David Crawford of Osceola County was found not guilty of negligence by a jury on Friday.
The case stemmed from an encounter with Jean Baretto, who was 26 years old at the time.
Baretto had been evading law enforcement after officers responded to reports of a group of motorcyclists riding recklessly.
While Baretto survived the encounter, he sustained burns covering nearly 75% of his body when Crawford deployed a taser while Baretto was refueling at a Wawa gas station.
The Encounter
Body camera footage from the scene painted a tense picture.
Crawford, along with another deputy, approached Baretto as he filled up his motorcycle.
The footage shows Crawford tackling Baretto to the ground and shouting commands to him, while a fellow officer, Deputy Christopher Koffinas, deployed a taser.
The officers failed to allow Baretto to properly close his gas tank before tackling him, causing gasoline to spill onto the ground.
At one point, Crawford can be heard yelling at Koffinas to turn off the gas pump.
“Kill the pump, kill the pump, there’s gas,” Crawford says.
Moments later, the taser discharges, igniting the gasoline and setting both Crawford and Baretto on fire.
Crawford can be seen rolling on the ground as flames engulf his body for several seconds.
The Trial
During the trial, Crawford testified that he did not intentionally discharge the taser, claiming it went off when he tossed it aside in the chaos of the moment.
His defense attorneys argued that all witnesses and video footage proved that the taser was deployed accidentally, not deliberately.
Crawford, in his testimony, also claimed he had no memory of turning off the taser’s safety feature.
Prosecutors, however, contended that Crawford had escalated the situation unnecessarily and had acted recklessly.
They emphasized that there was no need to tackle Baretto in such a volatile environment, especially near gasoline.
“The end result of this was foreseeable,” one prosecutor argued, pointing out that Crawford had walked across the parking lot toward the motorcyclist without taking proper precautions.
Outcome and Aftermath
After the acquittal, Crawford’s defense attorney expressed relief, stating that the jury’s verdict was the right one.
Crawford had been suspended from his duties after the incident, but his current status with the sheriff’s office remains unclear.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement respecting the jury’s decision and affirmed that it had initiated a criminal investigation against its own employee, as it would in any case involving potential misconduct.
On the other hand, Baretto’s attorney has stated that they plan to file a civil lawsuit for what they described as the “reckless, excessive use of force” by the deputies involved.
The lawyer cited the evidence presented in the criminal trial as the foundation for the upcoming legal action.
At the time of the incident, Sheriff Marcos López explained that deputies believed Baretto matched the description of a suspect involved in an earlier incident where a man on a dirt bike allegedly pointed a gun at a driver.
However, Baretto was never charged in connection with that allegation.
Now that the criminal trial is over, all eyes will be on whether the planned civil suit will lead to further legal repercussions for the sheriff’s department.
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