Investigators: MPD Used Excessive Force?

MINNEAPOLIS - The FOX 9 investigators have uncovered a new detail in yet another case alleging excessive force by the Minneapolis Police Department.

The department can't comment on the case because it has started an internal investigation.

In August of 2009 around 4:30 in the morning, an officer pulled over Ira Stafford.

But FOX 9's Trish Van Pilsum has video video that challenges whether police had a reason to stop the man in the first place.

Stafford says he thinks an officer used a Taser on him although he says he wasn't resisting.

“I’ve never been Tasered,” said Stafford. “I’m not sure what it is. Whatever it was, it was a jolt, and it was uncomfortable.”

The FOX 9 investigators reviewed the police reports and the officers do not mention use of a Taser. Stafford's attorney is not talking just about the arrest; he wants investigators to rewind to look at the actual stop from the beginning.

With the country music song, "every light in the house is on" blaring in his car, the officer pulled Stafford over for a non-working right rear brake light.

Longtime professional mechanic and business owner Jim Cook says he's played the video frame by frame and is sure both brakes were working. The brakes were working when the officer stopped Stafford but the car was later loaded onto a flatbed tow truck.

Stafford hasn't filed a lawsuit, but might. After the stop, he was charged with obstructing the legal process. But the city attorney dropped those charges after watching the same tape you saw.