Teen Who Recorded Video of Officers: “I Was Scared for My Family”

Joseph Ivy, 14, recorded video of officers smashing vehicle's window, using Taser on passenger

The Indiana teen who captured video of a police officer smashing the window of his mom's car and using a stun gun on her boyfriend said he hit "record" because he was scared and felt something wasn't right about the situation he was witnessing from the backseat.

"I was scared for my family. I was scared for my little sister, because she was in the back with me," 14-year-old Joseph Ivy said Tuesday night, a day after his mother filed a federal lawsuit against the Hammond police officers involved.

The lawsuit alleges Hammond police officers used excessive force and committed a false arrest and battery after they pulled Lisa Mahone over on Sept. 24.

10/07/14: Video shows police officers breaking a car window and using a Taser on a man during a traffic stop while two children are in the back seat.

Ivy's video, released to the public late Monday, shows a conversation between Mahone, her boyfriend Jamal Jones and officers about an unworn seatbelt and identification. When Jones declined to exit the vehicle, as officers asked, they used a tool to shatter the window, dragged him out and shocked him twice with a Taser.

The incident left the children fearful. Joseph's younger sister Janiya, 8, is heard in the video crying during the height of the ordeal.

"I want them to hear her crying so they could feel bad, because what if somebody was doing that to their kid?" Joseph explained.

Hammond Police Lt. Richard Hoyda said in a statement that the officers acted within the law.

"In general, police officers who make legal traffic stops are allowed to ask passengers inside of a stopped vehicle for identification and to request that they exit a stopped vehicle for the officer’s safety without a requirement of reasonable suspicion," he said, adding that the officers feared for their own safety because Jones reportedly dropped his hands behind the vehicle's center console.

10/07/14: Jamal Jones and Lisa Mahone speak to reporters about the Sept. 24 traffic stop that ended with police officers shattering the vehicle’s window and using a Taser on Jones.
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