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A Florida police officer, 267-pound Trooper Daniel Cole, was recently cleared of any wrongdoing by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Questions were raised when he tasered a 20 year old handcuffed girl in the back as she fled. The tasering was caught on video showing officer Cole firing the taser at the handcuffed Danielle Maudsley. Maudsley was a mere 100 pound, while Cole outweighed her at two and a half times her weight. She was clearly no threat to him, unless he expected to die from exhaustion chasing her a few yards.

The encounter took place last September at the FHP Pinellas Park Substation. As Maudsley fled, the tasering prevented her from catching herself as her muscles involuntarily seized up. As a result, she fell to the concrete, and bashed her head. She suffered severe brain damage and has been in a persistent vegetative state ever since.

The video below shows Maudsley fleeing a back door of the substation with officer Cole following closely behind, with absolutely no need to taser her. It is clear that he only did this to inflict physical punishment on the small 20 year old.


Maudsley was initially arrested for her alleged involvement in two hit-and-run crashes and driving without a license.

Officer Cole brought her to the substation to complete his paperwork before taking her to the Pinellas County Jail. But as she entered the parking lot, she tried to make a run for it.
"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.
Maudsley's mother said Cole should have used other means besides the taser to stop her daughter. "He was right behind her. He could've reached out," Maudsley observed. "It was unnecessary."

Defense attorney Kevin Haylsett was hired to pursue charges against the department. Hayslett said Cole violated his department's taser policy which says clearly that "Fleeing cannot be the sole reason for the deployment" of the taser. "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 explained.

Maudsley's mother said early on that the prognosis is not good for her daughter. Maudsley remained in a Fort Lauderdale rehab center which specializes in severe brain injuries and remained in a vegetative state until she died last month.

SPREAD THE WORD about this POLICE ABUSE of power. These rogue cops can only get away with these abuses if we allow them to!