Florida department says officer thought he was deploying stun gun when naked man was shot, seriously wounded

An initial review suggests that the Hollywood, Fla., police officer who shot a naked man in the back last summer intended to deploy his taser instead of his firearm, according to a statement released by the police department on Tuesday.

In a statement shared with ABC affiliate Local 10 and other news outlets, the Hollywood Police Department said an officer, whose name has not yet been released, meant to deploy his taser as Michael Ortiz resisted an attempt by officers to bring him to a rescue vehicle outside his apartment building in July.

The officer instead discharged his firearm and struck Ortiz, 42, who remains paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the shooting.

This comes after Ortiz appeared on Monday in a wheelchair in a news conference with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to announce a lawsuit against the police department, according to NBC 6. Attorneys for Ortiz’s family said they are suing the department to compel police to hand over a building surveillance video of the incident.

“We want complete transparency. We think the best avenue to do go down [is] where only the family gets to see it — we all get to see it,” Crump said, according to the outlet.

“You want to know, how are they using this power? Are they following policies and procedures or are they flagrantly disregarding the rights of citizens?” he continued.

In the Tuesday statement, police offered a detailed account of the events surrounding Ortiz’s shooting. They said officers responded on July 3 to assist the local fire department after Ortiz called 911 reporting chest pains and the ingestion of narcotics. The Fire Rescue call log said Ortiz was “making delusional and suicidal statements,” according to the statement.

Ortiz exited his apartment on the sixth floor while naked, “combative with the paramedics” and “visibly agitated,” according to police. When officers arrived they tasered him and placed him in restraints, per the statement.

“As officers attempted to move him into the elevator to get him downstairs to the waiting stretcher and rescue vehicle outside, Mr. Ortiz used his legs to resist being placed inside the small elevator,” the statement read, as posted by Local 10. “As he continued to resist, an officer discharged his firearm, striking Mr. Ortiz once. Officers and Fire Rescue personnel moved Mr. Ortiz into the elevator so that he could be taken downstairs for initial treatment and transported to the hospital.”

“An initial review suggests the officer intended to deploy his taser but instead discharged his firearm,” the statement continued.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident and the officer in question has been assigned to administrative tasks until the investigation is completed, according to the statement.

Crump gave a different version of the July 3 events. The attorney said Ortiz had called to report his dog was missing, and when responders arrived he had just gotten out of the shower and was wrapped in a towel, according to The Associated Press. He added that video was taken from a nearby apartment building and would show some of what happened.

This follows the December conviction of Kim Potter, a Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright last year during a traffic stop. Potter, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 18, said she meant to pull out a taser when Wright was resisting arrest but accidentally discharged her firearm instead.

The Hill has reached out to the police department for comment.