Video shows Virginia cops tasing, pepper-spraying man who reportedly had stroke

WATCH ABOVE: Body camera footage released by police shows police officers asking Washington to get out of the car before he is tasered and pepper-sprayed.

Recently released video shows what police officers saw as they Tasered and pepper-sprayed a man involved in a hit-and-run while reportedly suffering from a stroke.

The video, shot by Officer Shaun Jurgens’ lapel camera, starts as he’s driving toward the scene. He was responding to a hit-and-run call in a residential area of Washington, Virginia. The car had hit a jeep, crossed the median and hit a street sign before stopping.

David Washington, 34, was still in the driver’s seat, barely moving, when police responded. Approximately 40 seconds after arriving on scene, Jurgens’ shoots Washington with his taser.

Jurgens wrote in a statement to the Frederiksburg Free Lance-Star that he couldn’t see Washington’s hands when he approached the vehicle and believed he could be concealing a weapon, intoxicated and prone to “irrational behaviour.”

Shortly after that, Jurgens hits him with roughly seven seconds of pepper spray as he yells at him to “get out of the car.” Washington’s right-arm moves to his face, but his left side remains motionless.

Washington had suffered a stroke, according to WTOP.com, but the officers were apparently unaware. Jurgens said in his statement that he was trying to keep the incident from escalating.

Jurgens and the other responding officer pull Washington out of the car and lay him on his stomach after he fails to get out of the car.

Jurgens can be heard moaning and according to WTOP.com, says he “can’t breathe.”

The officers’ called for paramedics and Jurgens told the Frederiksburg newspaper that he “let the suspect lean up against my body while we sat him upright on the pavement and awaited the arrival of the rescue squad.”

“I repeatedly told the suspect that he would be okay and that the rescue squad would remove the pepper spray from his skin so he would feel better,” he wrote.

Washington has since been released from hospital and is recovering.