Sean Rossman, and Karl Etters

The State Attorney's Office said a Tallahassee Police Department officer's tasing of a 61-year-old great-grandmother in Frenchtown last week was unnecessary and dropped the charges against the woman and her three family members Friday.

In a no-information filing, the State Attorney's Office said while Officer Terry Mahan's tasing of Viola Young was lawful, "the evidence indicates it was unnecessary."

State Attorney Willie Meggs dropped resisting an officer without violence charges against Young, her daughter, Laguna Young, 41, and grandchildren Quontarrious Jones, 23, and Quaneshia Rivers, 20. All were arrested on Dunn Street Sept. 30 when officers attempted to stop Jones for walking in the middle of the narrow street.

Laguna Young and Rivers were apprehended and arrested when they tried to intervene in Jones' arrest. Viola Young was tased after she stepped in. Mahan tased her in the back after he told her she was under arrest and she tried to walk away. Young fell face first into the pavement in front of neighbors in broad daylight. A citizen video of the tasing quickly went viral after a resident posted a cellphone video on Facebook.

The video launched the incident into the national spotlight and forced Police Chief Michael DeLeo to call an unheard-of news conference at 3:15 a.m., less than 10 hours after the tasing, to address the video and announce Mahan's paid administrative leave and the department's internal investigation.

On Thursday, the activist group Tallahassee Dream Defenders protested outside of the Leon County Courthouse calling on Meggs to file criminal charges against Mahan. Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor held a citizen conference on public safety Thursday night. Frenchtown residents chided TPD for harassing members of the neighborhood. Proctor told the crowd he wanted to see the charges against those arrested dropped.

The no-information filings say that in review of police reports and video, there is little likelihood of convicting Young and her family members on charges of resisting arrest.

"To prove the charge against Young, the State must prove that Young was interfering with a lawful arrest," the court filing says. "Assuming the arrest of her grandson was lawful, there is little evidence that Young's actions interfered with that arrest."

In court filings, Meggs' office notes that there are not sidewalks along Dunn Street making it "impractical for residents and visitors to avoid walking in the street."

In regard to the initial arrest of Jones, the State Attorney's Office acknowledges that his arrest for the civil infraction may have been technically lawful, but "the actions of the officers in this case led to an absurd result. Four arrests that stem from somebody walking in the roadway is not a scenario that lends itself to a successful prosecution."

Meggs said he is allowing DeLeo to determine whether to charge Mahan, who was placed on paid administrative leave last week.

"I think he's doing a good job of trying to parse out the facts in the case and I'm sure he'll do the right thing," Meggs told the Democrat Friday afternoon. "If they arrest him we'll deal with that."

The internal investigation of Mahan is still ongoing and TPD has no timeline as to when it will be completed, according to Officer David Northway, TPD spokesman.

"Both as an attorney, and as a life-long resident of Tallahassee, I am relieved to learn of the decision made today by State Attorney Willie Meggs and Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman to dismiss all charges against my clients," said Viola Young's attorney Gus Harper.