COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The College Station Police Department has responded to the video of an arrest that has been viewed on Twitter more than 150,000 times. It showed a CSPD officer using their Taser on a man who was riding his bike and allegedly refused to stop.
It happened on Wednesday, May 5 just after 1 p.m. A CSPD patrol officer on a motorcycle said they were patrolling in the 700 block of University Drive and saw a man on a bicycle cross the intersection of University and Nagle Street. They said the bicyclist did not stop at the red light as required and ignored the safety of people waiting to cross the street.
The officer said they turned on their emergency lights to try to stop the bicyclist, but they said the cyclist refused and pedaled away. The officer said they tried to stop the bicyclist by warning him many times, but he allegedly would not stop.
Another CSPD patrol car was able to box in the bicyclist, according to court documents, and the officers then said they took the bicyclist down to the ground. They said he was refusing to put his hands behind his back and they said they warned him they would use a Taser if he did not cooperate.
The officer said the man refused to stop fighting and that is when the officer said they used their Taser. They said they were then able to arrest the man, however, when they tried to put him in the patrol car, they said the had to pull him in from the other side because he allegedly tried using his feet to jam the car door open.
Officers reported the man was taken to the hospital and was cleared to go to jail. Jose Diaz, 34, of College Station, has been charged with evading arrest and two counts of resisting arrest. He was booked into jail on $12,000 bond and has since been released.
According to CSPD, bicyclists on the roadway are required to follow the same rules and responsibilities as motorists. All bicyclists must operate under Texas Motor Vehicle Laws while on public roadways. This includes stopping at stop signs, red lights and yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks.
