Jordan Rivero: Bodycam footage shows injured car crash surivor being repeatedly tased by Florida cops
TAVERNIER, FLORIDA: Jordan Rivero, 20, suffered a car crash when he was on his way back home from a fishing trip in the Florida Keys with three friends in July 2022. The bloodied and dazed then 19-year-old was tased afterward by a responding officer, leaving him flatlining and in a coma.
The crash victim from Lantana, Palm Beach County, was in a Toyota Tacoma with friends Daniel Klein, Jerome Harman, and John Sanders when the vehicle smashed into a concrete pole on US1 around 5.55 am. The friends were taking turns driving, and Rivero was asleep in the back seat when the accident happened as the car crossed from the northbound to the southbound lane.
What does the bodycam footage reveal?
The Daily Mail reportedly obtained police bodycam footage, which shows a sobbing Rivero sitting down by the wreck as ordered by Monroe County Sheriff's deputies.
He stumbles up disoriented, complaining of not being able to breathe through his broken nose. The deputies haul him down, followed by another tussle where he is told to "get on the f**king ground," and tased near the stomach by Deputy Dyllon Hansen.
The second time he was tased, Rivero fell on the road, his head smashing on the hard surface as he thrashed from the voltage.
Rivero is seen in Officer Hansen's bodycam footage sobbing and screaming, as he manages to say at one point, "I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry, sir. Please lord, please help me." He also begs his friend John Tyler Sanders for help, who was also involved in the crash but remained unaffected.
The officials are shown in the footage holding Rivero face down in a pool of his own blood, and cuffing his arms and feet, instead of assessing the crash victim's medical condition.
Rivero, who aspired to become a firefighter, is now suing Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Rick Ramsay, and three deputies including Hansen.
Jordan Rivero's injuries
According to the court documents, Rivero suffered a grand mal seizure after being stretchered into an ambulance.
Rivero's attorney Dena Foman told the Mail, "He had brain swelling and he suffered a traumatic brain injury. He flatlined right after they got him in the ambulance at the scene."
After being rushed to the Mariners Hospital in Tavernier, the crash victim "needed an emergency tracheotomy as he got there and they had to slice his throat open in the parking lot. He had to be resuscitated two or three times and he ended up in a coma. He is very lucky to be alive."
The injuries suffered by the then-teenager were deemed too severe for treatment by the hospital staff, and he was airlifted to Kendall Hospital near Miami where he was put on a mechanical ventilator.
After five days, Rivero was released with debilitating injuries, which court papers suggest have ruined his chances of becoming a firefighter like his father.
