Cleburne Man Decries Police Brutality After Probably Justified Traffic-Stop Tasing (Video)

A number of facts surrounding Donny Hinshaw's May 23 arrest by Cleburne police are firmly established. Minutes before the YouTube clip above, the 30-year-old had gotten in a wreck and driven away. When he's pulled over, he steps out of his truck and ignores the officer's command to put his...

By Eric Nicholson

June 10, 2013

Audio By Carbonatix

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A number of facts surrounding Donny Hinshaw's May 23 arrest by Cleburne police are firmly established. Minutes before the YouTube clip above, the 30-year-old had gotten in a wreck and driven away. When he's pulled over, he steps out of his truck and ignores the officer's command to put his hands on his truck. Nine seconds later, he gets Tased.

Now the question: Was it justified?

Hinshaw, predictably, says no. He plans to file a complaint against the officer -- identified by whomever posted the YouTube video as Corporal Robert Sigler -- and is demanding that his charges for fleeing the scene of an accident and evading arrest be dropped. He made the local-TV-news rounds over the weekend.

"He had no justification for using the Taser on me," Hinshaw told WFAA. He told NBC 5 that he was "just scared" during the traffic stop and felt "fear, anxiety [and] no situational awareness of what's going on."

That's not what it looks like on the video, in which Hinshaw appears to have no trouble understanding the officer's commands or the subsequent warning, "Get ready to get Tased."

True, the officer may have been a tad bit quick on the draw, but the clip serves as a useful reminder: When a cop says to put your hands on the truck, it's best to put your hands on the truck.

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