A man was left fighting for life when he was shot with a stun gun, his lawyers have claimed.
Jean Barreto, 26, was injured when the electric charge from the gun is believed to have ignited an explosion at the gas station as he was being arrested.
Attorney Mark Nejame said: ‘While being cooked alive, Mr Barreto sustained third degree burns on approximately 75% of his body, front and back from his feet to the bottom of his neck.’
They said he was on his way home from a biker gathering that police had broken up and was stopped at a Wawa gas station.
Police claim said he was among of a group of people who were pointing guns at other people.
Barreto’s lawyers say he was ‘bum-rushed from behind’ and knocked off his bike, spilling gas all over him and the deputy.
Another three cops arrived and one of them fired their stun gun, causing flames to engulf him.
Surveillance video taken from a Wawa gas station in Orange County, Florida, shows flames erupting near one of the gas pumps during the attempted arrest.
A Fire Marshal’s Office report found that ‘the most probable cause of the fire was an electric discharge from the deputies deploying a department-issued Taser device,’ WFTV reported.
Barreto was never charged with any crime in connection to the bikers’ meet-up.
Barreto spent 10 weeks in the hospital and is still undergoing ‘excruciating’ treatment. He was expected to be placed in a medically induced coma this week to undergo debridement, his lawyer said.
His attorneys say that the sheriff’s office has not turned over body camera video and deputy reports, and are asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to take over the investigation and the US Justice Department to step in as well.
