Police break car window, Taser passenger for not having ID

Police are being sued over an incident in which a car window was smashed with a club and the passenger tasered before being dragged from the vehicle.

Video of the September 24 incident has emerged as a lawsuit was filed in US District Court against several officers and the Hammond police department of Indiana itself.

The footage shows passenger Jamal Jones talking to police through the car window while driver Lisa Mahone, stopped for not wearing a seatbelt, talks to a 911 operator saying the officers' behaviour is scaring her.

Officers are seen to smash the passenger side window before shooting Mr Jones with a Taser - once in the car and again outside it - and then arresting him.

The lawsuit claims that Mr Jones had been trying to explain to officers - who wanted to see his ID - that he had surrendered his driver's licence for driving without insurance and was attempting to show them a ticket instead.

The attorney acting for Mr Jones and Ms Mahone, Dana Kurtz, said: "The officers from Hammond Police Department escalated the incident without any basis and without any cause."

The lawsuit claims excessive force, false arrest, assault and battery, and is seeking unspecified damages.

Hammond police said the officers involved, two of whom have been sued in the past for excessive force or unlawful arrest, had become concerned after seeing Mr Jones "repeatedly reach towards the rear seats of the vehicle".

The footage was filmed by the driver's 14-year-old son, understood to be one of two children in the car.

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