Jeff Burlew, and Sean Rossman

Frenchtown residents continued to feel unnerved and uneasy on Thursday, two days after a Tallahassee Police Department officer tased a 61-year-old woman in the back during a confrontation in the neighborhood.

It happened Tuesday afternoon after TPD officers patrolling the area in squad cars encountered a group of people — all members of the same family — walking down Dunn Street and asked them to get out of the road. Officers began arresting several of them on charges of resisting arrest, prompting the family matriarch, Viola Young, to approach officers and ask what was going on.

One of the officers, Terry Mahan, told Young she was under arrest, too, but Young walked away from him. Mahan fired his Taser into her back, causing her to fall in the middle of the road.

Letitia Hills, who witnessed a portion of the incident, pointed out that Dunn Street has no sidewalks and residents have no choice but to walk in the street. She and others expressed outrage at how police handled the situation.

"I know they have a job to do, but when you're just bothering innocent people and harassing the people that live in the community, that's just outrageous," said Hills, 41. "What are we supposed to do when we're walking? You don't even want to walk out in the street — you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know if you're going to be harassed or arrested or what. You just don't know."

The confrontation was captured on cell-phone video by residents who live on Dunn Street, and the footage, which was released by TPD and others, appeared on Facebook pages, YouTube and media sites around the world. The story broke roughly a year after dash-cam video showing a woman being injured during her DUI arrest by TPD officers went viral in the same fashion.

Viola Young was arrested along with her daughter, Laguna Young, 41, her grandson, Quontarrious Jones, 23, and her granddaughter, Quaneshia Rivers, 20. All four have been released from jail.

Laguna Young said she was coming back from a nearby convenience store with her son and daughter and her granddaughter, a toddler, when an officer approached in his vehicle and tried to talk to her son. Her son didn't want to talk to the officer, she said.

"When my son jumped back, I guess that's when (the officer) got mad," Laguna Young said. When the officer told Jones he was under arrest, family members protested.

"We said we didn't even do anything," Laguna Young said. "How are we under arrest?"

Laguna Young said she called her mother on a cell phone to tell her what was going on. Viola Young came to the scene to find out what was happening and to retrieve her great-granddaughter.

After the tasing, all four of the family members were taken to Lincoln Neighborhood Center to get them and officers away from the area, according to police reports, because of "the hostility of the individuals remaining on the scene."

Once at the neighborhood center, Laguna Young said they were forced to remain in hot police vehicles without air-conditioning. She was worried about her mother, whose blood pressure was spiking from the stress.

Laguna Young said officers had no probable cause to stop them and that they had no obligation to speak to officers. She said she's angry about how her family, especially her mother, was treated by officers. She added that an officer at one point grabbed her by the neck and slammed her to the ground.

"It's got to stop," she said. "TPD has been doing so much stuff to so many people and they're getting away with it. And they wonder why we don't like them and don't talk to them — because they make it that way. All of that was uncalled for."

'You can't go around tasing grandmas'

Tony Davis, 23, said one officer threatened to pepper-spray him as he was shooting video of the incident. He said officers were being disrespectful "to everyone" in the area, not just those they arrested.

"I think he was mad because I was videoing the whole thing and because of the comments I was making — that they didn't have to tase her," he said. "I understand them trying to protect and serve ... but you can't just go around tasing grandmas."

Dunn Street was quiet Thursday morning as residents resumed their normal routines. Two TPD officers patrolled the street on foot as some looked on from their front porches. Some residents said officers normally patrol in their squad cars and that the foot patrol was unusual.

Police use of force probed in Frenchtown tasing

William Gibson, 58, who lives on Dunn Street, said the tasing of Young was not only the talk of the neighborhood but also the talk of the nation. He said officers routinely treat residents there "as if we're second-class citizens."

"It was excessive force," Gibson said. "But the stop was routine for this area. It's what they do. I feel it should not have happened, period."

Ronnie Wilson, 53, who lives on nearby Dover Street, said the incident was reminiscent of other incidents in which police have been accused of excessive force, including the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo.

"An officer has to protect himself," he said, "but at the same time, there's a fine line between protection and aggression. She should not have been tased. Two or three officers could have held her back. There's no reason to use excessive force."

'She's just freaked out'

In the hours following the shooting, TPD Chief Michael DeLeo placed Officer Mahan on paid administrative leave and ordered an internal-affairs investigation. He said he wanted to make sure Mahan's actions were legal and whether they were consistent with the expectations he has set for his officers "in terms of how we respect and treat our citizens."

Robert "Gus" Harper III, a Tallahassee attorney representing Young, said he expected her to be interviewed by internal-affairs investigators Thursday evening. He said she had doctors' appointments Wednesday and Thursday but couldn't discuss the extent of her injuries. On Thursday, Viola Young pleaded not guilty to the resisting-arrest charge.

"She's just freaked out," Harper said. "She's really emotional. And she's confused. You're talking about someone who is 61 years old and a great-grandmother and never been in trouble before and tased in the back."

Questions have come up about whether Harper should be representing Young. The Florida Bar confirmed on Thursday that Harper is delinquent in his continuing legal-education requirements, which would prohibit him under bar rules from practicing law. Harper, however, said he'd completed his continuing education and recently turned in required paperwork. The Florida Bar said he became delinquent Aug. 31.

"My understanding is I'm not delinquent," he said.

State Attorney Willie Meggs said he hasn't decided whether he will file formal charges against Young or the others arrested in the confrontation.

"To my knowledge, at this point we have not received a single solitary piece of paperwork on anything," Meggs said. "I've asked for it. When it gets here, I want to see it."