Texas Councilman Shot With Taser Calls Arrest ‘Unwarranted'

Police have released footage of the arrest, which took place in the same city where Sandra Bland was arrested after an argument with a state trooper

A Texas city councilman who was shot with a Taser in the same city where Sandra Bland was arrested over the summer said his arrest on Friday was "unwarranted."

Prairie View Councilman Jonathan Miller spoke with NBC's "Today" show hours before police announced the Waller County District Attorney would lead the investigation into his arrest.

He was charged with interfering with police and resisting arrest after police showed up to question some of his house guests about drug activity in the area. Miller told "Today" the guests were his friends and were not doing anything wrong.

Body camera footage shows Miller saying, "Officer, please do not put your hands on me," to which the officer responds, "Go over here before you go to jail for interfering. Go over there before you go to jail for interfering, man."

Police said Miller physically resisted officers when they asked him to step back.

"I knew the officer, she knew me, so I figured if, you know, I let her know that these were my guests, (it would) lessen the tensions," Miller told "Today."

Police then shot him with a Taser. Cellphone video shows Miller shout in pain and fall to the ground. Police later released dashcam video showing the conversation, stun gun deployment and the aftermath.

It's the second high-profile incident to occur in the Texas city, which Prairie View Police Chief Larry Johnson described in a news conference Monday as a "community of hard-working" people. Bland, an Illinois native who had recently moved to the area for a job at a local college, was also arrested in Prairie View and was found hanging in her jail cell over the summer.

When asked what he thought about the latest incident, Johnson would only say the department adheres to a "universally accepted" Taser policy and an internal review will determine whether officers violated it.

“Our goal is to provide the best service that we can, and sometimes we fail; sometimes we can do better," Johnson said of the department, which comprises six officers. "We recognize that, and I don't have a problem at all with looking at our procedures and if we have some deficiencies, we will do what we need to do to correct those."

Prairie View Mayor Frank Jackson, who joined Johnson for Monday's press conference, said, "We're always concerned that our citizens are taken of."

But Miller said he took exception to the way he was treated: "I just feel like it was kind of unwarranted to be almost harassed like that."

"I don't feel like I did anything that I'm accused of," he added. "I don't feel like I should have been even detained or arrested or anything."

A special city council meeting was scheduled for Monday afternoon.

"It seems obvious to me our police department needs some sensitivity training," Councilwoman Marie Herndon told "Today."

Johnson said last week the officer who arrested Miller was also involved in Bland's arrest, but did not say how. He said Monday the officers involved in the incident remain on duty.

Bland was pulled over by Trooper Brian Encinia, with whom she got into an argument over a lit cigarette, according to dashcam video released after she died while in Waller County Jail. Her arrest prompted a range of investigations into her arrest and incarceration.
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