Two charged with tasering Detroit cop as bodycam video is released

Two people have been charged in related to the tasing of a Detroit police officer earlier this week on the same day Detroit Police release bodycam video of the incident.

Mario Delgado, 23, and Erica Garcia, 27, were both charged with assaulting a police officer on Friday. Garcia was also charged with using a taser on an officer.

However, according to Delgado's family, they didn't have a choice. The family says they were being harassed by the police department and that the taser was used to stop an officer from choking them. The department says that officers were just doing their job and there was no choking.

Detroit officer tasered by woman on street

Delgado told FOX 2 that's not true.

"Yes I was choked twice," he said.

Police were called to the home on Clippert Street in Southwest Detroit early Thursday morning to a call of multiple smoking marijuana in the street.

What followed, was a huge altercation that included Erica Garcia using a taser on a Detroit police officer.

On Friday, police releaed body camera video from five police officers at the scene. It showed Garcia running up and attacking an officer with a taser, striking him in the left arm.

Tineika Smith, Delgado's mother, claimed that police harassed and assaulted them. She said that, despite video showing the officer holding a flashlight before being Tased, they were acting in self-defense.

"" When I was over there, scuffling, asking them to get off my son, as a friend of mine. As was Mario's girlfriend, begging them and pulling them off, trying to knock these cops off of Mario," Smith said.

In one of the videos released, a family member got very close to an officer's face. In response, the officer responded aggressively and use profanity.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said that the woman was too close to the officer and she was interfering with his job.

"I didn't hear that part, but if the officer said it, he shouldn't have. When I look at the video, she was very close, and that's a problem. Because that's the act of interfering with a police officer doing their duty. We can't have it. It puts the officers at risk, it puts additional community members at risk, and all we're saying is we want people to be safe. If you have a complaint, there is a way to address it. No running up in the middle with cameras using profanity," Craig said.

2 arrested, officer tasered in southwest Detroit during heated altercation

The family gave us video clips of their own taken by a cell phone. They said it shows Delgado staggering after he was roughed up by police. Those videos also show family members using profanity when they spoke to officers.

"I was coming outside and I saw my mother in law being pushed and I told the cop not to put his hands on my mother in law, when I said that, they all started jumping on me," Delgado said.

Another cell phone clip from a few weeks ago, showing people in the neighborhood, cursing at officers, with one officer flipping the residents off.

"That's wrong. If you have a video showing that, we will investigate it," Craig said.

In wake of this ongoing tension, police officers paid a visit to Clippert street on Friday to speak with the family and to engage with other neighbors.

"Anytime an allegation of harassment is brought to our attention, we want to make sure we're on the ground, that we're connected, we're talking to all and everyone in the community," Deputy Chief Todd Bettison said.

Delgado and Garcia are both scheduled to be arraigned on Saturday.