Palo Alto mall menace zapped with Taser before faceplanting and breaking his neck

A man suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck after a cop used a Taser on him at a California shopping mall.

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The July 19 video shows the man sitting on a bench after being awakened and arguing with an officer and a security guard at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

At one point, the man stands up and extends his hand toward the officer, who tells him to back away and asks whether he wants to be taken to jail.

“You’re going to get tased, dude. You’re going to get tased,” the officer warns.

“Do it,” the man responds before moving more quickly toward the officer outside the New Balance store.

The officer then fires the instrument into the man’s chest, causing his body to immediately stiffen as he falls to the ground.

Video shows the man lying face down with blood coming from his forehead for roughly three minutes before an officer places him in handcuffs. Emergency crews later took him to a hospital, where he was found to have suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck.

The man was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing and drug possession.

He later apologized for his behavior during the encounter, City Manager Ed Shikada told the City Council in an Aug. 14 email, according to the Palo Alto Daily Post.

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Shikada also said the city’s police auditor would review the officer’s use of force. The Palo Alto Police Department released video of the encounter on Aug. 14.

California law requires law enforcement agencies to release audio and video recordings within 45 days of incidents in which officers use force resulting in “great bodily injury,” including broken bones. The requirement took effect in July 2019 under Assembly Bill 748.

The Palo Alto police department has previously released footage under the law.

In July 2025, the department released video from an encounter in which officers pulled a man off a stolen bicycle, breaking his wrist.

Footage was also released following a Dec. 23, 2023 incident in which officers injured the tip of a man’s finger with a rubber bullet. In that case, the man had reportedly strangled his wife and headbutted his son before refusing to come out of his home.

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