CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A body-camera video from a Corpus Christi traffic stop is drawing renewed attention online, with many viewers questioning whether the force used by police followed department guidelines.
The video shows an encounter between Corpus Christi police and driver Jacob Miller, who was later arrested and charged with reckless driving, evading and resisting.
Those charges were dropped roughly two weeks later by the Nueces County District Attorney’s Office.
The footage captures the moment Miller questions why he was pulled over while the officer repeatedly orders him out of the vehicle.
Seconds later, Officer Manuel Hernandez pulls Miller from the vehicle and onto the ground. During the struggle, Hernandez deploys a Taser, with probes striking Miller in the chest. Moments later, the Taser is deployed again after Miller is turned over.
KRIS 6 obtained the Corpus Christi Police Department’s use-of-force and less-than-lethal device policies to better understand how officers are trained to deploy Tasers during encounters like this.
Department policy describes Tasers, or conducted energy devices, as tools intended to help officers control violent or potentially violent individuals when lesser options are ineffective or unsafe.
The policy also outlines specific guidance for how the devices should be used.
Officers are instructed to give verbal warnings and an opportunity to comply before deploying a Taser when practical and safe. The policy also directs officers to aim for the back or lower center mass when possible and avoid sensitive areas such as the head, neck or chest when feasible.
The rules further state officers should apply one standard cycle of the device and then evaluate the situation before using additional cycles. Any force used, according to department policy, must be objectively reasonable, necessary and proportionate to the resistance encountered.
In his probable cause statement, Hernandez wrote that the second Taser deployment occurred after the first did not produce the desired effect.
Miller said reliving the moment has been difficult.
“It really just shakes me to my core when I have to relive that… that moment when I thought I was going to lose my life,” Miller said.
He also said better communication during the stop could have changed the outcome.
“Let’s inform them why they need to get out of the car. Let’s inform them why they’re being pulled over,” Miller said.
KRIS 6 reached out to the Corpus Christi Police Department about the officer’s actions shown in the video.
A department spokesperson said the agency is aware of the video and takes community concerns seriously but declined to comment further.
The department did not say whether the incident had been reviewed under its use-of-force policies.
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