U.S. Olympic medallist tased during police confrontation, bodycam footage shows

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Fred Kerley is known for his running, but unfortunately, he had a run-in with the law on Thursday night.

The U.S. Olympic track and field star — who won the bronze in the 100-metre dash at the Summer Games in Paris last year — was arrested in Miami after a confrontation with police.

Body-camera footage released by the Miami Beach Police Department shows Kerley exchanging words with a group of officers who were attending to an unrelated police matter while the athlete expressed concern about his car, which was parked nearby.

The footage shows that as officers attempted to sort out the situation, Kerley became argumentative and then appeared to push a cop.

This ignited the confrontation, with several officers wrestling Kerley to the ground.

One of the officers then used a stun gun to subdue Kerley before the sprinter was placed in handcuffs.

According to TMZ, the police wrote in an incident report that Kerley had approached them with “an aggressive demeanor.”

Kerley was charged with battery, resisting an officer and disorderly conduct and booked into jail early Friday, according to online records.

The Olympic sprinter did not have an attorney listed in online court records and his agent did not immediately reply to a message from USA Today.

Police allege in their report that Kerley “attempted to force his way through” two officers despite their requests that he go around the area. One officer then raised his left hand and made contact with Kerley, who brushed it away.

In the altercation, police wrote that Kerley “used evasive movements” to resist arrest and that one officer “delivered multiple hammer fists” towards Kerley’s head and elbows to his back in continued attempts to subdue him, according to the report.

“Stop resisting!” one of the officers told Kerley as he was on the ground, according to the footage.

“I’m not resisting, get off of me, bro,” Kerley replied.

After being taken into custody, Kerley can be heard in the footage screaming at the officers, repeatedly calling them “weak.”

During his career, the 29-year-old Kerley has won two Olympic medals in the 100-metre dash – bronze in Paris and a silver in Tokyo in 2021 – and also won the 2022 world championship.